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Cultural
Competence Exchange Newsletter
November
1999
This special
edition of the Cultural Competence Exchange reflects
important changes since the last edition ? new name, an expanded
mission and new logo too! The Maternal and Child Health National
Center for Cultural Competence is now the National Center
for Cultural Competence (NCCC). The expanded mission has
three distinct components:
- The original component of working with Maternal and Child
Health Title V Programs concerned with Children and Youth with
Special Health Needs and their families (MCH/CSHN) remains
the same.
- The NCCC is adding two Health Resources Services Administration
(HRSA) programs. One is the Bureau of Primary Health Care (BPHC),
which is consistent with the NCCC?s mission to assist health
care programs as they design, implement and evaluate culturally
competent delivery systems. The BPHC Project focuses on programs
such as Community, Migrant Health Centers, Health Care for
the Homeless Grantees, Health Schools ? Health Communities
Grantees, Health Services for Residents of Public Housing Grantees,
Primary Care Associations and Primary Care Offices.
- The third component calls for working with another HRSA program
? Sudden Infant Death Syndrome and Other Infant Death (SIDS/ID).
The NCCC will work with programs providing support to families
affected by SIDS/ID.
Diana Denboba continues as our project officer for the MCH/CSHN
component and provides coordination among the three HRSA components.
(Please see New
Federal Partners Support NCCC for description of plans for
each new component.)
The NCCC will be expanding some of its activities that were
developed for the CSHN component and adding new ones for BPHC
and the SIDS/ID components. The NCCC is expanding its pool of
consultants on cultural competence to encompass those with expertise
appropriate for the two new components. The Center also responds
to technical assistance calls from programs funded by the BPHC
and SIDS/ID Program through our toll free phone number (800-788-2066)
and e-mail (cultural@georgetown.edu).
This edition of the Cultural Competence Exchange describes
the efforts of the children with special health care needs component
as well as our two new components. We are delighted to be working
with our new Federal partners and broadening the infusion of
cultural competence in health services.
As the NCCC has expanded its focus, the Center has added new
personnel as well. During the past year, the NCCC has welcomed:
Suzanne Bronheim, PhD, is a Senior Policy Analyst for
the NCCC. She is a clinical child psychologist who has served
children with or at risk for disabilities for thirty years and
has also worked for the past fifteen years on policy issues related
to children with special health care needs and their families.
She coordinates the Communities Can! Coalition. Supported by
the Federal Interagency Coordinating Council for Early Intervention,
the coalition helps communities provide integrated, family-centered,
culturally competent supports and services.
Ben de Guzman is the Project Assistant for the MCHB/CSHN
component. The son of Filipino immigrants, he brings a uniquely
bicultural Asian/Pacific Islander perspective to the NCCC. He
lives in the District of Columbia and is involved in a number
of national and community based organizations serving Filipino
American and Asian/Pacific Islander communities.
Diane Lewis is the Project Assistant for the BPHC and
SIDS/ID components. She will be working with the team on meeting
planning, answering calls and supporting the development of products.
Diane has a BS in Management and International Business from
Penn State University. Her background in international business
has led to her understanding of the importance of culture and
attending to cultural differences in human interactions.
Suganya Sockalingam, PhD, is the Assistant Project Director.
In this capacity, she provides technical assistance, consultation
and training to the three components of the Center. She was formerly
the Director of the Office of Multicultural Health with the Oregon
State Health Division. As the Director, she was charged with
moving the Health Division along the cultural competence continuum
to become an organization that ensures equal access to all and
quality services to medically under-served and indigent populations
of Oregon. Suganya has worked in India, Nepal, Indonesia, Nicaragua
and in both the Pacific Northwest and the Atlantic Northeast.
Her passion for travel has taken her for long periods of time
to Japan, Korea, England, Thailand, Sri Lanka and Australia.
Suganya was an original member of the Advisory Committee for
the CSHN component beginning in 1995.
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