Ensuring competent medical services for a population that is rapidly growing more diverse is one of the key challenges facing the nation’s health care professionals. As the demographics of the U.S. continue to shift – the U.S. Census Bureau projects that by 2050 the white (non-Hispanic) population will comprise just 52 percent of the country’s population – the need for doctors, physician assistants, nurses and anyone in the medical field to be trained to work with individuals from all ethnic backgrounds will only increase.

The Le Moyne College Cultural Competency Initiative (CCI), which began in 2005 through the College’s Physician Assistant Program, was created to build an understanding of the many aspects of cultural competency in health care. It is being funded by the largest grant of its kind in the history of Le Moyne College, a $650,000, three-year grant from the federal Health Resources and Services Administration.

“At the heart of this effort is the fact that our nation’s population is becoming much more diversified,” said Dr. Linda Allison, chair of Le Moyne’s PA Program. “As health care providers deal with these demographic changes, it is important that they truly understand the differing needs of different ethnic groups. This initiative is bringing together the College and community groups with long-standing concerns for the promotion of culturally competent health care and the elimination of health disparities.”

Though not even halfway through the initiatives that will be undertaken through the three-year process, many activities have already taken place. For example:

• All PA faculty participated in curriculum development and presentation sessions.
• Three faculty members completed the Cultural Competence Train-the-Trainer program through Cross Cultural Health Care Programs in Seattle, Wash.
• PA students completed graduate projects related to cultural competence, including a learning garden, nutritional assessment project, and incidence of SIDS.
• The Southwest Community Center in Syracuse hosted a round-table dinner discussion on cultural competency in health care between community members and Le Moyne CCI participants.
• This summer, Le Moyne PA students collaborated with students from SUNY Upstate Medical University as part of a weeklong conference hosted by the American Medical Student Association. The effort led to development of an elective course at Upstate.
• Students participated in medical humanities seminars that address alternative health care in various cultures, including a presentation by South African Samgoma (traditional healer) Sarah Mosaka.

Last April, approximately 35 PA students took a bus tour of several neighborhoods in the city of Syracuse. The tour was narrated by four “young elder” community members, women who grew up in Syracuse, raised families here, and have seen the changes over the years. Also on the bus was Dr. Mindy Fullilove, a professor of clinical psychiatry and public health at the New York State Psychiatric Institute at Columbia University who conducts research on the relationship between the structure of cities and residents’ mental health.

The group made several stops of interest, including the Onondaga County Justice Center in downtown Syracuse and Beauchamp Library, where they viewed historical photos of the city.

“The purpose of the bus tour was for students to better understand urban renewal and destruction, and its impact on health care and health issues among urban populations,” said Allison. “It’s vitally important to observe first-hand some of the barriers that people encounter when trying to access basic needs, including housing, nutrition and health care.”

A number of activities are planned this academic year. One major initiative involves the College’s first-year PA students working with youth counselors at the Southwest Community Center to develop after-school programming for elementary and high school students related to health and substance abuse issues.

This project, Allison said, is more representative of the type of activities that will take place during the second and third years of the grant, focusing more on community outreach and providing real-life, hands-on experience for students working on their master’s in physician assistant studies at Le Moyne.

“Ultimately, the research conducted through the grant will help Le Moyne develop a curriculum that focuses on the linkages between health disparities and cultural competence,” Allison said. “Given the scope of the work that will be funded by this grant, the curriculum development will extend far beyond the Le Moyne program, and really become the basis for how this important topic will be addressed by PA programs at other institutions, as well as medical, nursing and dental schools.”