Kuumba Receives Grant from Medical Society of Virginia Foundation To Promote Culturally Sensitive Healthcare

The Kuumba Community Health and Wellness Center in Roanoke, Virginia, was awarded a grant on cultural competency in regard to health disparities in the community. This grant project has two components:

1. a cross-cultural training program for the Center's staff
2. a provision of patient education services by physician assistant students who attend the Jefferson College of Health Sciences, located close to the Center.

The cross-cultural training program, geared to the entire staff of the health center, will include an educational series on the necessity of providing health care that is sensitive to differing cultures, and a medical Spanish course (24 hours of study). These two classes, offered at Kuumba during staff lunch hours, will be taught by faculty from the Jefferson College of Health Sciences.

The patient education program will pair 30 physician assistant students with 30 minority patients suffering from chronic illnesses. Each student will work one-on-one with the patient to provide individualized treatment and education plans to treat the patient's illness. The students also work with the patients on behavior modification plans that will help to control their illnesses; the students are also responsible for the planning and staffing of two community health screenings to target minority members of community in an effort to assess their risks of cardiovascular disease and diabetes.

This grant project will be lead by Scott Hansen, D.O., Medical Director for the Kuumba Community Health and Wellness Center.