Multi-Cultural Issues

Founded in 1872, the American Public Health Association (APHA) is the oldest, largest and most diverse organization of public health professionals in the world. The association works to protect all Americans and their communities from preventable, serious health threats. APHA represents a broad array of health officials, educators, environmentalists, policy-makers and health providers at all levels working both within and outside governmental organizations and educational institutions. Information about disparities in health literacy including a health disparities data base may be found at this site along with advocacy tips and resources, educational opportunities and publications related to public health.

This important study and related reports released by the California Healthcare Foundation in March 16, 2007 reports that: In California, the most populous and diverse state in the country, significant racial and ethnic differences exist at the end of life. These reports – the first in a new series of CHCF-supported projects focusing on end-of-life issues - found significant variations in the expectations, experiences, and decisions of patients and their families in the months preceding death.

“As California’s diverse population grows older, ensuring quality care at the end of life for everyone takes on even greater significance,” Mark D. Smith, M.D., M.B.A., president and CEO of CHCF, said Thursday at the Association of Health Care Journalists conference in Los Angeles. “By supporting research and projects to improve the quality of end-of-life care, CHCF sees an opportunity to help make California a national example of best medical practices and culturally appropriate care.”

Caring Connections, a program of the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization (NHPCO), is a national consumer engagement initiative to improve care at the end of life, supported by a grant from The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

Caring Connections
-Provides free resources, information and motivation for actively learning about end-of-life resources.
-Promotes awareness of and engagement in efforts to increase access to quality end-of-life care.
-Helps people connect with the resources they need, when they need them.
-Brings together community, state and national partners working to improve end-of-life care.

The mission of the Center for Cross Cultural Health is to integrate the role of culture in improving health. Our vision is increased health and well-being for all through cross-cultural understanding. In order to achieve this goal, the Center is actively involved in the education and training of health and human service providers and organizations in the State of Minnesota and beyond. The Center is also a research and information resource. Through information sharing, training, organizational assessments and research the Center works to develop culturally competent individuals, organizations, systems, and societies. Please feel free to browse our web site and contact us with any questions or comments. For more information contact CCCH

Since 1992, the Cross Cultural Health Care Program (CCHCP) has been addressing broad cultural issues that impact the health of individuals and families in ethnic minority communities in Seattle and nationwide.

Through a combination of cultural competency trainings, interpreter trainings, research projects, community coalition building, and other services, the CCHCP serves as a bridge between communities and health care institutions to ensure full access to quality health care that is culturally and linguistically appropriate. For more information contact CCHCP

Diversity Rx: Promoting language and cultural competence to improve the quality of health care for minority, immigrant, and ethnically diverse communities. Diversity Rx is supported by: The National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL), Resources for Cross Cultural Health Care (RCCHC), and Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation of Menlo Park, CA. For more information contact Diversity Rx

Hold Your Breath - A Journey into Cross-Cultural Medicine
Film Directed by Maren Grainger-Monsen, MD Check PBS for local broadcasting times in your region. Northern CA KQED and KRCB broadcasting in April, 2007. A lovely and moving meditation on the clash between religion, culture and modern medicine. Produced by Stanford Center for BioMedical Ethics, Program in Bioethics and Film

Dr. Monsen is the film maker who also produced: Vanishing Line about her journey with a hospice chaplain caring for the dying; and Grave Words a entertaining film about use of resusciation for training medical students and others.

A forum for research and discussion in all areas of applied ethics
The Markkula Center for Applied Ethics at Santa Clara University is one of the preeminent centers for research and dialogue on ethical issues in critical areas of American life. The center works with faculty, staff, students, community leaders, and the public to address ethical issues more effectively in teaching, research, and action. The center’s focus areas are business, health care and biotechnology, character education, government, global leadership, technology, and emerging issues in ethics. Articles, cases, briefings, and dialogue in all fields of applied ethics are available on this site. Publisher of Issues in Ethics Winter 2003 Volume 14 number 1 titled Last Things contains excellent insight into end of life care for the Latino community, article titled: Reluctant Realism by Margaret R. McClean and Margaret A. Graham

The Center for Practical Bioethics, formerly known as the Midwest Bioethics Center, has a 20 year history of raising and responding to ethical issues in health and healthcare and works specifically in the following areas. Researchers looking for Midwest Bioethics Center publications should contact the Center for Practical Bioethics.

Clinical and Organizational Ethics: solving moral problems by educating and empowering healthcare professionals and their institutions, advocating for patients’ rights, training ethics committees, and supporting change though ethics education and leadership.