H Street Clinic Center
The Gala Event Presentation - coming soon
California State University-San Bernardino, Loma Linda University and Central City Lutheran Mission are embarking on an important and exciting program to increase the quality of health care in one of California 's poorest urban communities. Central City Lutheran Mission began its work in 1996 and has begun a $2.5 million construction project that will include a nurse-managed clinic, recreational center, educational facility and residency for interns doing block placements in the fields of social work, community health, nursing, public health and theology. The H Street Clinic was dedicated in April, 2004.
Initial focus groups, neighborhood surveys and experience with mobile clinics have identified some immediate and serious health care issues for an English speaking and Spanish speaking population. With the moving of the county health care facility now located in Rialto , an impoverished community with no access to transportation has been left with few resources for health care and no resources for health care education, screenings and supervised follow-ups to clinical visits. The emergency rooms of the two local hospitals has increased by more than 25% since the moving of the health care facility, impacting the quality and cost of care given. The indigent population in this economically depressed neighborhood is virtually without emergency services. The hardest hit are children, pregnant mothers and teenagers.
Central City Lutheran Mission is a unique neighborhood development project that has gained the trust and confidence of neighborhood residents. Working with both a Latin and African American population, gang members and local residents have learned that the Mission is their resource and exists for them. Employment, educational programs during non-traditional hours, food pantry and feeding programs, adolescent health care, and housing for persons with HIV have made the Mission a friend of thousands of persons in its catchments area.
Health care at this 6,136 square foot health care facility will be provided by advanced practice nurses in collaboration with local physicians. Nurse practitioners and registered nurses will be available to assess and diagnose health problems, furnish medications, make home visits, provide counseling, conduct educational seminars and one-on-one information about medications and medical adherence, among other services.
In addition to walk in services, the health care center will also provide several specialized services that are important in our neighborhood:
- screenings for early detection of diabetes
- screenings for high blood pressure
- emergency diagnosis and referral (with transportation)
- health care education
- pre and postnatal care
- counseling for HIV+ homeless persons with a goal of medical adherence nd
- nutritional enhancement
- health care and counseling facilities for gay/lesbian/bi-sexual and transgender youth
- home visits to follow up with clinical appointments
- coordination of services with local school and parish nurses
The Board of Central City Lutheran Mission is committed to the management of the H Street Clinic. CCLM developed the concept for the partnership with California State University-Dept. of Nursing because of the need in the immediate neighborhood. Neighborhood control and cultural competency are values that CCLM will maintain as this clinic begins to function. The following points are key elements CCLM will use to help sustain the nurse-managed clinic and to ensure its relevance to a diverse neighborhood with many residents who are at risk and hard to reach.
Through the creation of a joint-management team, CCLM will be an equal partner in the development of the protocol setting the guidelines for the clinic's operation. This protocol will not only include physicians' support and expertise, but will also lay the groundwork for community involvement. CCLM's role in this join management team will be to ensure accountability to the community it is called to serve.
A Community Health Care Liaison has been hired. This person's position will be to organize community residents who are recipients of health care at the clinic to integrate them into an instrument which can monitor cultural competency, client satisfaction and educational appropriateness for all clinic programs.
CCLM's Adolescent Health Care Program will continue to work in the neighborhood organizing community instances for education and reflection. Issues impacting youth will be primary. The Adolescent Health Care Program's Director – a neighborhood youth and staff person at the mission for five years – will continue to develop culturally appropriate programs for HIV/STD/unwanted pregnancy prevention. This team will also develop secondary prevention efforts. Both of these initiatives create a neighborhood support base for building trust between the clinic and local residents. This team will lead the process for the development of procedures for home visits, neighborhood outreach (“marketing”) and subjects for educational workshops.
