Ensuring Language Access & Culturally

Competent Services to Vulnerable Populations

National Alliance to End Homelessness Conference 2011

www.csh.org

Christine Haley– christine.haley@csh.org– 312.332.6690 x13– Corporation for Supportive Housing– MA Department of Public Health– Heartland Human Care Services

Today’s Presentation

Systems Level Approach – Culturally & Linguistically Appropriate Services Standards

Example: Heartland Human Care Services, HPRP Program, Chicago

CLAS Standards

Developed by HHS Office of Minority Health Contribute to the elimination of racial and

ethnic health disparities Make services more responsive to the

individual needs of clients Inclusive of all cultures, but designed to

address the needs of racial, ethnic, and linguistic minority population groups

Massachusetts Department of Public Health CLAS Initiative

Led by the Office of Health Equity Administration’s priority to eliminate health

disparities Integration of CLAS standards into DPH service

delivery systems Included in direct service contracts www.mass.gov/dph/healthequity Georgia Simpson May – Director, Office of Health

Equity

Making CLAS Happen

Heartland Human Care Services HPRP Program

Three sites across City of Chicago Case Management: Outreach & Senior Case

Managers Housing Location: Lead Housing Locators &

Housing Locators Maura McCauley – Senior Director, Housing

CLAS Standards

Common Terms

REL: Racially, Ethnically, and Linguistically (REL) diverse minority population

LEP: Limited English Proficient Translation: written Interpreter/Interpretation: spoken

14 Standards

Standards 1-3: Culturally Competent Care Standards 4-7: Language Access Standards 8-14: Organizational Supports for

Cultural Competence

Six Areas for Action

Build Community Partnerships

Standards 12 & 14

Agencies maintain community partnerships (12)

Participatory Collaborative Formal & informal partnerships Community involved in design & implementation

of CLAS related activities

Agencies make public their progress (14)

Public information on progress Successful innovations Public notice in the community about available

information

How it works: Partnerships

Partnership with Heartland Human Care Services and Voluntary Agencies (VolAgs)

.25FTE coordinated relationships administratively; 1.0FTE Senior Case Manager

HHCS processed application; Agencies provided culturally competent case management services

Reflect & Respect DiversityStandards 2 & 13

Agencies implement workforce diversity strategies (2)

Staff and leadership representative of service area

At all levels of the organization

Strategies to – Recruit;– Retain; – Promote staff and

leadership.

Agencies have client conflict and grievance resolution processes (13)

Process is:– Culturally and

linguistically sensitive

Process can:– Identify;– Prevent;– Resolve client

cross-cultural conflicts or complaints.

How it works: Workforce

Staff reflective of community being served Recruitment from Refugee Employment Program Bi-lingual/Bi-cultural – Spanish, Arabic

Foster Cultural Competence

Standards 1 & 3

Agencies ensure that client’s receive from all staff members (1)

Care that is:– Effective– Understandable– Respectful

Care that is compatible with:– Cultural health

beliefs;– Cultural health

practices;– And in preferred

language.

Agencies ensure that staff receive CLAS training (3)

When?– On-going training

Who receives training?– At all levels– Across all

disciplines

What?– Education & training– Culturally &

linguistically appropriate service delivery

How it works: Training

Current immigrant and refugee population in Chicago

Overview of immigration process Asking the right questions

Collect Diversity Data

Standards 10, 11 & 14

Agencies ensure that client REL data is collected (10)

REL – race, ethnicity, spoken and written language

In health/client records Integrated into management information systems Periodically updated

Agencies maintain community profiles & needs assessment (11)

Profile– Demographic– Cultural– Epidemiological

Needs Assessment– Plan accurately– Implement

responsive services

How it works: Community Profiles

Assigned to assess neighborhoods Identify community assets Include demographic profile – languages spoken,

racial and ethnic populations Ensure staffing patterns reflect assessments

Benchmark: Plan and Evaluate

Standards 8 & 9

Agencies have written plans on CLAS provision (8)

Agency can– Develop– Implement– Promote plan

Plan includes:– Goals– Policies– Operational plans– Management

accountability– Oversight

mechanisms

Agency should conduct CLAS related self-assessments (9)

Initial On-going

Integrate cultural & linguistic measures into:– Internal audits– Performance

improvement programs– Patient satisfaction

assessments– Outcomes-based

evaluations

How it works: Assessment

Completed CLAS Assessment

Team responsible for identifying an areas of improvement

Ensure Language Access

Standards 4,5,6 & 7

Organizations must offer and provide language assistance services (4)

– Provided by bi-lingual staff or

– Interpreter services

– At no cost to the patient/client

– At all points of contact

– In a timely manner– During all hours of

operation

Inform clients of their right to language assistance services (5)

Clients informed both verbally and in writing Notice should be in client’s preferred language

Agencies assure the competence of language services (6)

Quality of language services provided by interpreters or bi-lingual staff

Family and friends should not be interpreters unless requested by client

Agencies provide language appropriate patient-related materials and post signage (7)

Available to commonly encountered groups and/or groups in the service area

Easily-understood patient-related materials Signage posted

How it works: Language Access

Bi-lingual Staff: English, Spanish, Arabic Staff trained in face-to-face and telephonic

interpreter services Service agreement set up with Heartland

Alliance’s Cross Cultural Interpreter Services

Where to start…

Assessment Recognize what you are doing well Prioritize needs Create line item in budget for CLAS related costs

Thank You

Christine Haley,

Associate Director, CSH IL Program

christine.haley@csh.org

312.332.6690 x13