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Karen B. Lennon, M.S.SVP, External Affairs

Community Liaisons:

Bridging the Cultural Gap in Health Care

2Total # of people served in 2009 - 482,917

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LHC Diversity Video

Copies are in your folders

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Demographics*: Ethnicity & Poverty Rate

Ethnicity

Latino/Hispanic 37%

Chinese 27%

Orthodox Jewish 10%

Arabic 7%

Russian 7%

Poverty Rate

Southwest Brooklyn 22.2%

United States 12.4%* Source 2000 Census Data

28% of Residents Live Below 100% Federal Poverty Level

* Lutheran Family Health Centers and Lutheran Medical Center

Brooklyn’s

Chinatown:

Fastest Growing

Population In

Brooklyn

Largest Arabic Community In NYC

Largest Latino Population In Brooklyn

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What is Cultural Competence?

A set of attitudes and skills necessary to work effectively with patients from diverse cultural or linguistic backgrounds The ability to respect your patients’ cultural beliefs The ability to adapt your practice style

“We all came on different ships to the U.S. but we're all in the same boat now!” 

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We Are a National Leader in Cultural Competence

• Vice President of Cultural Competence

• SVP, Mission and Spiritual Care

• Chinese Nursing Units at Medical Center & Lutheran Augustana

• Brooklyn-Chinese Family Health Center

• Caribbean-American Family Health Center

• Mosque, chapel and Bikur Cholim room

• Latin, halal, kosher and Chinese meals

• Spiritual Leaders On Call Service (Priest, Rabbi, Imam, etc.)

• Multilingual & Multicultural staff including Patient Relations

• Chinese Patient Rep in ED

• Community Liaisons

• Cultural Diversity Task Force Committees

• All signage/forms in 6 languages

• On site literacy review and translation services

• Modesty gowns

• Newspapers and television in Chinese, Spanish,Russian and Arabic

• Sabbath elevators

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LHC is the largest employer in the community. Our employees reflect our patient population:

LHC: STAFF LANGUAGES - 2009

Spanish24%

English39%

Other21%

Arabic2%

Chinese8%

Russian5%

Italian1%

LHC: PATIENTS BY LANGUAGE - 2009

Chinese6%

Arabic1%

Other4%Russian

1%

Spanish30%

English58% We celebrate 30 ethnic and

religious holidays

We speak 73 languages

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How Cultural Competence Works Throughout the LHC System

HPChinese

Unit

Senior Housing# Chinese Residents

LMCChinese Unit

LACChinese Unit

LFHCBrooklyn – Chinese

Site

LHCChinese Advisory

Committee

Brooklyn’s Chinatown

Fastest Growing Population

in Brooklyn

Cultural Celebrations

Physician Training

Eastern / Western MedicineChinese Speaking Physician Directory

Chinese Community Liaison

35% of our Senior Housing

Residents are Chinese

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Community Relations Department - BEFORE

SVP External Affairs

Director of Marketing

Community Relations Associate

OrthodoxJewish

Community Liaison

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Community Relations Department - CURRENT

SVP External Affairs

Director Marketing and Community Relations

Arabic Community Liaison

Orthodox Jewish Community Liaison

Chinese Community Liaison

VP Cultural Competence

Director Patient Relations

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Patient Relations

ommunity RelationsPhysician Relations

Patient Relations

Community Relations

Physician Relations

Community Liaisons

• Proactive Problem Solving / Follow-up

• Patients

• Family

• Physicians

• Community

• Interpretations / Translations / Literacy Review

• Cultural Expertise

• Effective placement of sponsorship & advertising dollars

• Effective management of community groups

• Relationship Building

• Politics

• Reputation

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Success Stories• Proactive identification of problems ensuring faster and culturally

competent responses and resolutions.

• Improved community perception: patients strategic community partners coordination of community events participation in cultural task force meetings & events communication between health care providers and spiritual leaders marketing/sponsorship impact/effectiveness media relations / access

• Improved staff satisfaction staff resources timely problem solving timely interpretations

• Improved Provider Relations

identification/troubleshooting of patient flow issues LHC physician communication ED physician communication patient/family physician communication

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Challenges• Budgetary Constraints

– Limited Number of Communities Represented– Time Constraints

• One Liaison = 24/7 On Call• Vacation/sick/leave coverage

• Organizational Structure– 3 Areas of Expertise / 3 Supervisors– Cross Training– Fluid Role Boundaries – When to Hand Off / Escalate– Focus on increased communication

• Cultural Understanding / Tolerance• Verbal / Written Language Barriers

• Recruitment– Unique skill set needed

• Patient Relations• Physician Relations• Community Relations

– Community Reputation/ Perception– Religious Based Ethics / Law / Compliance /

Patient Confidentiality

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What’s Next

• Further Development of Current Role Training Patient Relations Liaison Teamwork Staff / Provider Recognition / Usage

• Expand Program To Include:– Latino/Hispanic– Russian– Geriatric