Search Ethnomed:

Community House Calls Program

The Community House Calls Program was set up to decrease sociocultural barriers to care for non-English speaking ethnic populations receiving their care at Harborview Medical Center, a large urban public hospital in Seattle, Washington, that is operated by the University of Washington. The Medical Center serves a very diverse and changing ethnic population that has required interpretation for over 70 languages at an annual cost for interpreter services of over $1.8 million per year. The variety of cultural groups with different family structures and health beliefs are a challenge to health care providers. Recent changes in the state Medicaid structure to managed health care has been very difficult for many high risk and high need refugee families.

Community House Calls Information

• Harborview Medical Center's Community House Calls Referral
  Word Document | PDF Format
  
  
• Collaborative Strategies for Language Access in Health Care in Seattle/King County, Washington
  
  
• Web Based Health-Related Information for Targeted Refugee/Immigrant Groups in King County and Their Providers
  Presentation by Ellen Howard, KK Sherwood Library, Harborview Medical Center.
  
  
• Strategies to Address Cultural Competency at Harborview Medical Center: A powerpoint slide presentation by Carey Jackson, MD, MPH, Director, International Medicine Clinic at Harborview Medical Center, Seattle, WA
  
  
• Beyond Medical Interpretation: The Role of Interpreter Cultural Mediators (ICMs)
  A manual describing the work of Community House Calls in building bridges between ethnic communities and health institutions. Revised in 1998, this version is in PDF format, 41 pages.
  
  
• HERS (Help Each Other Reach the Sky) formerly known as the Cambodian Girls Project, provides employment and career exploration opportunities, tutoring, intensive case management, mental health services and counseling to teenage girls of Cambodian heritage and their families. The program was funded by SafeFuture of Department of Juvenile Justice through the City of Seattle Department of Youth and Family Services. The funding has ended for this program.
  
  
• Minutes of Community House Calls Meetings
  September 25, 2002