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Track
3-1a
Management
Building a Comprehensive Approach to Health
Care in an Immigrant Community:
a Model from the Sunset Park Family Health Center Network
The Sunset Park Family Health Center Network (SPFHCN) is
a large, urban Public Health Service-funded community health center (CHC),
serving over 80,000 patients. For over thirty years, it has provided preventive
and primary care as well as a comprehensive array of support services
to the neighborhoods of southwest Brooklyn, New York--one of the fastest
growing areas of new immigrant settlement in the country. The CHCs represent
the nation's largest program to provide quality health care to medically
underserved and special populations. Over 60 percent of community health
center users are members of ethnic minorities and 20 percent speak limited
or no English. In 1996, over nine million persons and 21 percent of the
uninsured in America received their health care from CHCs. The mission
and practices of CHCs are compatible with developing model programs to
meet the health care needs of ethnically diverse populations. As a result,
in responding to changing sociodemographics in its service area, SPFHCN
has integrated steps to enhance cultural proficiency into its existing
model for community oriented primary care. This presentation will highlight
the experiences and accomplishments of SPFHCN in this effort.
Molly McNees
Medical Anthropologist
Special Assistant to the Executive Vice President
Sunset Park Family Health Center Network of Lutheran Medical Center
150 55th Street, Station 20
Brooklyn, New York 11220
718-630-7045 fax:718 492
mmcnees@lmcmc.org
Molly McNees received her master's degree in medical
anthropology at the New School for Social Research in New York City. She
has conducted research on work and pregnancy and taught numerous courses
on cross-cultural health, international health and occupational health.
She is currently Special Assistant to the Executive Vice President at
the Sunset Park Family Health Center Network of Lutheran Medical Center
in Brooklyn, New York where she is also on the faculty for the Family
Practice Residency Program. She is involved in staff training, community
needs assessment, program evaluation, as well as numerous service initiatives
focused on health service delivery in a multi-ethnic, immigrant community.
She regularly conducts seminars for first and second year medical students
at the SUNY Health Science Center on issues in cross-cultural health care.
As a doctoral candidate, Molly is completing a study on cultural models
of cardiac risk factors among Latino patients and health providers. NEXT >
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