Growing Latino Elderly Immigrant Population with Limited English Proficiency to Join Campaign for Improved Home Health Care Services
April 2, 2012
“Approximately 30,000 Valley Residents With Limited English Proficiency Can Benefit from Campaign.”
HARTFORD, CONN. – April 2, 2012 The Connecticut Health Foundation (CT Health) Board of Directors recently awarded the Naugatuck Valley Project, Inc. (NVP) a one year $35,000 grant to support its project to improve access to culturally, linguistically appropriate home health care to its diverse elderly, limited English proficient (LEP) immigrant population. Called the “Home Health Care Access Project,” the project will allow NVP, a strong community-driven regional organization, to leverage its 27 congregations, neighborhood organizations, labor unions, housing co-ops and small businesses to create change.
NVP has a strong history of and commitment to engaging its residents in conversations about community-wide problems that impact them. As in other programs, NVP plans to engage Valley Hispanic and other LEP immigrants and families, allies, hospitals, as well as home health care providers, state legislators/officials, and statewide allies on a campaign to build understanding and support for needed changes in home health care access. NVP anticipates that constituents will organize around three key services, which include:
- better medical interpretation in the delivery of home health care services
- consistent, effective education about Medicaid and family-based care giving programs, and support to enroll themselves
- increase in trained bilingual aides
“NVP is working to make sure that there is excellent medical interpretation provided through medical terminology training for bilingual home health care aides, and through access to interpretative services for medical supervisors working with these families,” said Elizabeth Rosa, NVP Senior Organizer. If we succeed at this in the Valley, it will provide a model for others in the state.
“NVP’s proposed project aligns with CT Health’s work to influence changes in systems to reduce racial and ethnic health disparities through improved patient-provider interaction,” said President & CEO Patricia Baker. The project addresses both of CT Health’s health disparities objectives.
“Connecticut needs the best system in place for our elderly and for those that are dedicated to give them the best care possible,” said Rosa. “This is a growing problem many adults face in the state, first for their parents and then for themselves — let’s work on solving it now, she commented.”
OTHER GRANTS AWARDED
Connecticut Office of Health Reform and Innovation (Statewide) received a nine-month $50,000 grant to support a health equity learning collaborative that will provide training and education to the Health Care Cabinet and Health Insurance Exchange Board on racial and ethnic health disparities. The collaborative will help policy makers share challenges, successes, best practices and new ideas with other states striving to achieve health equity during implementation of health care reform. This grant will also support research and planning for an All-Payer Claims Database, which will collect patient and provider demographics, as well as utilization data, and support the analysis of data.
Connecticut State Medical Society (Statewide) has been awarded a one year $75,000 grant to undertake an array of activities, including: implementing health equity projects through its equity, quality of care, and legislative committees; work with the American Medical Association to model REHD initiatives for state medical societies across the country interested in taking on racial and ethnic health disparities; and continue providing cultural and linguistic competence training to physicians.
PRESIDENT’S GRANTS AWARDED
Advocacy for Patients with Chronic Illness, Inc. (Farmington, CT) provides legal and insurance counseling to patients, and engages in public policy that advances their interests. They were awarded a $20,000 grant to continue this work, and update their biennial publication, Know Your Rights: A Handbook for Patients with Chronic Illness.
Connecticut Center for Patient Safety (Redding), an advocacy organization offers seminars for medical professionals that feature real patient experiences to help them understand the importance of patient safety, received a $10,000 grant to train more advocates, increase and update their materials, and increase the number of nursing schools they reach this year.
Connecticut Health Policy Project, Inc. (New Haven) was awarded a $20,000 grant to support planning and strategies for implementation of an experimental approach to building the health policy capacity of stakeholder groups who want to take advantage of opportunities under the Affordable Care Act.
About the Connecticut Health Foundation
The Connecticut Health Foundation (CT Health) is the state’s largest independent health philanthropy dedicated to improving lives by changing health systems. Since it was established in July 1999, the foundation has supported innovative grant-making, public health policy research, technical assistance and convening to achieve its mission – to improve the health of the people of Connecticut.
Over the past 11 years, CT Health has awarded grants totaling close to $46.9 million in 45 cities and towns throughout the state in three priority areas:
- Improving access to children’s mental health services
- Reducing racial and ethnic health disparities
- Expanding access to and use of children’s oral health services
For more information about the foundation, please visit www.cthealth.org or contact Senior Communications Officer Maryland Grier at Maryland@cthealth.org or 860.724.1580, ext. 21.
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