Breaking Through

Outstanding Community Outreach

No matter how well-trained in medicine or nursing they may be, many health care providers aren't prepared for the challenges that come with differences in language and culture in an increasingly diverse population. But that is precisely what doctors and dentists at International Community Health Services in Seattle attend to on a daily basis.

For more than 35 years, health care providers at ICHS have been helping Asian, East African, Latino, Native Hawaiian and other Pacific Islander immigrants and refugees in Seattle and King County receive quality health care. In 2008, for instance, ICHS served 16,000 individual patients, about 80 percent of whom are Asian or Pacific Islanders. And many are new arrivals to the United States, sometimes bringing health conditions such as hepatitis B and tuberculosis from their home countries, says Teresita Batayola, the CEO at ICHS.

Teresita Batayola, CEO of International Community Health Services in Seattle, has to take an approach combining Western and Eastern medical practices for its diverse population of patients.

"The complexity comes in the language and cultural barriers," Batayola explains, adding that some of the difficulties in treating patients, aside from sorting through the 50 languages spoken by ICHS patients, is finding a compromise between Western and Eastern medical treatments. "There is the attempt on our part to balance what they know with homeopathic remedies or culturally appropriate remedies that are perfectly fine, but that are at times not enough. It's got to be done very sensitively because these are practices that they are used to."

And so ICHS physicians often face the question of how to treat their patients in a culturally professional way, one that both promotes education and eradicates fear.

For ICHS, with locations in south Seattle's Holly Park and in the thick of the bustling International District, the answer is outreach. Volunteers and paid community advocates from different cultural backgrounds and who speak a variety of languages from Tagalog to Cantonese go to community centers and churches, attend health fairs and visit homes to introduce ICHS. They let locals know they are welcome there, that the providers speak their language and that their cultures will be respected. ICHS also has partnerships with area grocery stores, such as Uwajimaya, where it performs free screenings for blood pressure, hypertension (a common malady among ICHS patients) and diabetes.

"We send dentists out to health fairs and we have midlevel physician assistants and nutritionists who go out and hold sessions at the health fairs and at classes in the community," Batayola says. Time is at a premium. Among the biggest challenges, she notes, is getting those who need care to see a doctor before they develop serious problems.

Adding to the issue of accessibility at ICHS is the cost. ICHS is federally funded, so anyone can visit, regardless of income or ability to pay. Fees are on a sliding scale and the staff works to get patients qualified for programs such as Medicaid or Basic Health.

Runners-Up:

Ray Heacox, president, KING-TV A sufferer of multiple sclerosis, Heacox has chaired the Greater Northwest Chapter of the National Multiple Sclerosis Society and been active in the national organization as well. He personally and professionally helps other organizations, too, such as the Seattle Children's Hospital Foundation, Seattle Cancer Care Alliance and the Benaroya Institute at Virginia Mason.

Rayburn Lewis, executive director, Swedish/Ballard Medical Center Lewis thinks locally but broadly. For years, he worked to make sure everyone has access to health care. He does this by supporting Swedish's free clinic, serving on the board at neighborhood health centers and lobbying state lawmakers to get more children from low-income families insured. And perhaps most visibly, he's been the on-site physician at Franklin High School football games.

Staff, Olympic Medical Center For three years, the staff at Olympic Medical Center in Port Angeles has reached out to serve veterans who, until 2007, had to travel to Seattle to get covered care.  OMC also serves those with little or no insurance with two free clinics, thus helping more of the population and relieving the pressures on OMC's emergency department.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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