The Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts Foundation Awards $800,000 in Grants for Culturally Competent Health Care.

Business Editors and Health/Medical Writers

BOSTON--(BW HealthWire)--April 4, 2002

The Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts (BCBSMA) Foundation today announced $800,000 in grants to expand access to health care for diverse cultures in Massachusetts. Massachusetts is world-renowned for its high caliber of available health care. However, culturally diverse populations and ethnic and linguistic minorities are often underserved, particularly low-income and uninsured patients.

Awards were made to 24 health care organizations throughout Massachusetts. These grants will demonstrably increase the supply and expertise of medical interpreters, and provide comprehensive cultural competence training among providers, management and staff of health care organizations. These initiatives will promote sustainable and systemic change for serving culturally diverse populations. A list of all grant recipients and a description of their programs is attached.

"Among the many types of barriers to care that confront low-income and uninsured patients, cultural and linguistic differences rank among the greatest," said Foundation President Andrew Dreyfus. "These cultural competence grants will help to support the institutional transformation and behavioral changes necessary to expand access and promote greater understanding among providers."

Since its inception in 2001, the BCBSMA Foundation (www.bcbsmafoundation.org) has awarded more than $2.5 million to spark innovation and strengthen services for the uninsured and low-income individuals and families in Massachusetts. The BCBSMA Foundation is governed by its own 17-member Board of Directors, and operates separately from the company. BCBSMA committed an initial $55 million endowment over four years. The Foundation is one of the largest health philanthropies in Massachusetts.

                  BCBSMA FOUNDATION 2002 GRANT AWARDS
    Pathways to Culturally Competent Health Care - Grant Summaries

Grants in the Pathways to Culturally Competent Health Care program
area support health care delivery organizations to expand access to
culturally competent health care in a way that is systemic, replicable
and sustainable. These grantees are compelling models of successful
collaboration with community-based organizations, strong
organizational commitment at various management and staff levels, and
effective capacity building to serve culturally diverse populations.
The ranges for program grants are $15,000 to $50,000 and planning
grants for $5,000 to $15,000.

Boston Health Care for the Homeless
$50,000

Supports the editing, production and national dissemination of the
second edition of The Manual of Common Communicable Diseases in
Shelters. This is the only manual about common infectious diseases
among homeless populations and will help providers locally and
nationally to effectively and appropriately treat homeless people, who
have specific and complex cultural issues that influence their health
care and status.

Boston Public Health Commission
Boston
$50,000

Supports the development, demonstration and evaluation of a cultural
competence assessment tool for Boston health centers and other
clinical sites. The tool will measure the effectiveness of culturally
competent care, language access services, and organizational capacity.

Codman Square Community Health Center
Boston
$50,000

Funding for a comprehensive cultural competence training for all
physicians, interns, residents and staff; development of a
train-the-trainer model, and a web-based mini-curriculum for
self-assessment and refresher training in Haitian Creole and Spanish.

Brigham & Women's Hospital
Boston
$40,000

Funding to establish the Boston Consortium on Cultural Competence
Training with three other hospitals (Beth Israel Deaconess,
Massachusetts General Hospital and Boston Medical Center), to
standardize training and protocols for delivering culturally competent
health care.

Center for HIV/AIDS Care and Research-Boston Medical Center
Boston
$40,000

Funds will strengthen the capacity of hospital-affiliated health
centers to provide culturally competent HIV/AIDS health care to Latino
and African American patients, in partnership with the Multicultural
AIDS Coalition. The project also includes implementation of Logician,
a culturally competent intake procedure.

Lowell Community Health Center, Inc.
Lowell
$40,000

Funding for a comprehensive training initiative to serve the Brazilian
and African immigrant communities through interpreting and cultural
competence for physicians and staff, in partnership with the African
Assistance Center and the Massachusetts Association for Portuguese
Speakers.

New England Medical Center
Boston
$40,000

Supports the mentoring of 100 recently trained medical interpreters
serving refugee and immigrant populations, teamed with clinicians and
staff at greater Boston hospitals and community health centers.

Carney Hospital
Dorchester
$30,000

Supports funding to launch a multi-faceted plan for integrating
culturally competent practice and programs into the hospital's
delivery of care for a very culturally diverse patient population. The
partners include Vietnamese Civic Association, Haitian Multi-Service
Center, and Churches Organized to Save Tomorrow.

Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center
Boston
$25,000

Establishes The Latino Consult Service, to build skills of staff by
teaming them with bilingual and bicultural providers and delivering
culturally competent care to Latino patients and families.

VNA Care Network
Eastern and Central Massachusetts
$25,000

Funds strengthen interpretation, deliver cultural competence training
and provide resources for clinicians serving 10 different ethnic
minority patient groups. Funds also support development of a resource
library. The Brazilian Community Association, Asian Resource Center,
Metta Health Center, New Vision Foundation and Lynn Community Health
Center are key collaborators.

VNA of Cape Cod
Cape Cod & Islands
$25,000

Funding supports a centralized medical translation center, and
culturally competent clinical practices for students, and increase the
supply of qualified medical interpreters available to local providers.

Caritas Good Samaritan Medical Center
Brockton
$20,000

Funds expand the supply and skills of interpreters for the medical
center, Brockton Community Health Center and 50 private medical
practices.

Cambridge Health Alliance
Cambridge
$50,000

Funds to support a demonstration project for delivering simultaneous
medical interpreting and videoconferencing interpreting, and measuring
the cost-benefit of these new technologies compared with face-to-face
interpreting. The partners in this project are the Massachusetts
Association of Portuguese Speakers, Concilio Hispano, and the Haitian
Coalition.

Holyoke Hospital
Holyoke
$50,000

Funding for language and cultural competence training for all direct
care workers involved in the entire continuum of care for Holyoke's
Latino women of childbearing age-- outreach, education, prenatal care,
delivery and post-delivery services--to build a culturally competent
infrastructure for the hospital's OB/GYN area and strengthen skills in
the Midwifery Care of Holyoke program.

Health Access Collaborative of Southeastern Massachusetts, Inc.
$50,000

Supports the development and delivery of advanced cultural competence
and interpreter training for professional and clinical staff, and
basic medical interpreter training for administrative and reception
staff at the New Bedford and Fall River hospitals, neighborhood health
centers and community-based organizations that make up this
collaborative.

South Cove Community Health Center
Boston
$40,000

Funding to translate into Chinese instructions more than 200 commonly
used medications and medical devices in a culturally competent way
that bridges traditional and Western health care.

Dorchester House Multi-Service Center
Dorchester
$35,000

Funding to enhance the skills and awareness of health center staff and
clinicians in delivering culturally competent primary care services to
Vietnamese domestic violence victims. The partners include Center for
Community Health Education, Research and Service; Little House Health
Center; Harbor Health Services, and Neponset Health Center.

Fenway Community Health Center
Boston
$35,000

Funding to continue the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender (GLBT)
Health Access Training Project with the Justice Resource Institute
that offers, training, consulting and technical assistance to health
care providers and agencies serving the GLBT population.

Greater Lawrence Family Health Center-AHEC
Lawrence
$35,000

Funding to strengthen the cultural competency skills of certified
interpreters and to strategically link interpreters and physicians to
improve delivery of culturally competent care throughout Merrimack
Valley. The training will be delivered in partnership with the
Merrimack Valley Interpreters Task Force.

Joseph M. Smith Community Health Center
Brighton
$15,000

Funding for a planning grant to support an organizational diversity
assessment and develop a plan for institutional transformation, in
partnership with the Massachusetts Association of Portuguese Speakers.

Home Health VNA
Merrimack Valley
$15,000

Supports a planning grant to develop a culturally competent process
for transitioning diverse patients from acute care to home care. Key
collaborators are Lawrence General Hospital, Saints Memorial Medical
Center in Lowell, Latin American Health Institute, and Cambodian
Mutual Assistance Association.

Jewish Memorial Hospital & Rehabilitation Center
Roxbury
$15,000

Supports a planning grant to conduct a community assessment and
identify potential cultural barriers to visiting the hospital, and
develop a plan for training physicians and staff. Community partners:
Action for Boston Community Development, National Caucus on Black
Aged.

Lawrence General Hospital
Lawrence
$15,000

Supports a planning grant to build a career ladder program to improve
skills, wages and motivation among service employees who are primarily
ethnic and linguistic minorities.

Lowell General Hospital
Lowell
$10,000

Funding to train bilingual/bicultural administrative and reception
staff in medical interpreting and increase the supply of certified
medical interpreters in the region. The Merrimack Valley AHEC will
provide the appropriate cultural competence training.