February 2016

A REPORT ON WHAT IT TAKES TO MAKE A HEALTHY COMMUNITYCY

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GOING BEYOND THE BEDSIDE TO THE DOORSTEPHEALTHY NEIGHBORHOODS TAKE MORE THAN BEING NEIGHBORLY

progress Begins with dialogue...

...and with understanding

Transparent communications help prevent and remedy health problems. Such dialogue needs to occur not only at a patient’s bedside but also at the home doorstep. Community Medical Centers uses socia l workers , home healthcare staff, educators a n d o t h e r s t o b r i n g best health practices to Valley residents inside and outside traditional healthcare settings.

One of those who engages the public is Alma Martinez, Community’s outreach specialist. Martinez, who speaks English and Spanish, is a former producer at Radio Bilingüe, Fresno’s bilingual public radio station. She helps the public navigate Community’s health ser vices — both

medical and administrative. She’s based at Community Regional near our most underserved patients. She also reaches out to residents in the underserved

neighborhood surrounding the downtown medical center to facilitate access to care and help improve delivery of health services.

Since her position was established in July 2014, Martinez has collaborated with the Hospital Council of Northern and Central

California to bring community groups and representatives of various cultures to help in developing a local health needs assessment for hospitals. And she’s involved with government and private organizations working on mental health, diabetes and other issues in the region.

Healthcare systems employing community outreach workers have

signifi cantly reduced ER use, hospital admissions and readmissions, and lowered

overall healthcare costs

BUILDING RELATIONSHIPS: CommunityMedical.org/about-us

The ability to understand and to be understood is one of the most important patient rights and often key to receiving appropriate medical care. This can be a challenge in a county where nearly 44% of the population says English is not their pr imar y l angu age and more than 66 different languages are spoken, according to U.S. Census data. Community is expanding its capacity to address patients’ language needs by enlisting our bilingual employees – not just our clinical staff.

Community’s new Care and Conversation Program uses employees who are comfortable

assisting patients in a language other than English, and clinical staff who are certified in understanding medical terminology in another language.

Bilingual employees wear a special badge to indicate to patients and visitors which additional language they speak and in which they can assist.

T h e s e l a n g u a g e ambassadors augment our staff of seven Spanish interpreters, a Hmong intepreter and a Hindi/Punjabi

interpreter. American Sign Language is available as well. Additionally, Community uses phone and live computer video conferencing in 170 languages.

Alma Martinez, community outreach specialist, emcees in English and Spanish at the 2015 Yokomi Block Party near Community Regional. Part of her job is to act as liaison between underserved communities and Community’s healthcare system.

Read Alma’s blog in English and Spanish at: cmc.news/salud

MAKING CARE ACCESSIBLE: CommunityMedical.org/about-us

“I’m also a culture clarifi er,” said Jane Lee, a Hmong interpreter at Community Regional who grew up interpreting for immigrant elders in her family and neighborhood. “I clarify the Western medicine ways to the Hmong patient. And I explain Hmong patients’ ideas and approaches to medicine to our staff.”

170 languages are available to patients, doctors and nurses by telephone or via live computer video conferences though the

Health Care Interpreter Network at Community’s hospitals and clinics

MAKING CARE ACCESSIBLE: CommunityMedical.org/about-us

WHAT HAPPENS WHEN A HOSPITAL NETWORK AND ITS COMMUNITY ARE CONNECTED? FIND OUT AT CommunityMedical.org/about-us

One Network. One Community.Clovis Community Medical Center | Community Behavioral Health Center | Community Regional Medical Center | Fresno Heart & Surgical Hospital

ANOTHER SIDE OF BEING THIS HOSPITAL

Community Regional Medical Center planted its roots in downtown Fresno more than a hundred years ago, and it has since led the city’s largest private redevelopment project. It has a long history of collaborating with others to help revitalize an area described by the Brookings Institution as having some of the nation’s most concentrated urban poverty.

Recently, Community Regional partnered with the City of Fresno, area residents and others on a Building Neighborhood Capacity Program in the neighborhood surrounding Fresno Uni ed School District’s Yokomi Elementary School. Fresno was one of four cities selected in 2011 by the Department of Justice for the revitalization e ort, which matches federal and local funding. It is a key part of Fresno Mayor Ashley Swearengin’s citywide Restore Fresno project. Driven by area residents, the program aims to improve education, employment, housing, policing and overall health. Yokomi was added to the grant that’s already being implemented successfully in other needy Fresno neighborhoods.

During the past two decades, Community Medical Centers has collaborated in other ways on revitalization. For example, we partnered with the City of Fresno Central Police District on a federal Weed and Seed program grant, designed to address crime, improve safety and grow businesses in the Yokomi area.

“Improving the community’s overall health is integral to our mission,” said Craig Wagoner, Community Regional’s CEO. “Nowhere is that more true than in lending a hand to neighbors around our hospital home.”

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During the past two decades, Community

Divisadero Street

Community Regional

56% of Yokomi’s 4,300 residents live in poverty – twice the rate of the rest of Fresno

43% of the Fresno County babies who die in their fi rst year of life live within a 2-mile radius of Yokomi

of Fresno County residents say English is not their primary

language