San Diego American Indian Health Center

Programs: The organization provides a range of health related services to the native american population in the san diego area. Providers include physicians, dentists, psychiatrists, and nurses with an understanding and appreciation for the unique cultural needs of native americans. Medical, dental, and behavioral health visits for the year totaled 18,198; and 3,970 patients were served. During this period, the number of active patients (patients with at least one visit during the calendar year) increased by 35%. Due to increased funding from various sources, including 330 funding, the center was able to add staffing and expand care in all types of service areas to all ethnicities of patients within the community. The dental area was the most expanded area of the clinic over the last two fiscal years. The clinic also provides non-billable patient care visits and community wellness services. These health care visits contribute to improved health outcomes and represent an important component of comprehensive, culturally relevant patient-centered care. Community engagement encounters are tracked at the health center and include facilitating group activities such as talking circles, cultural arts workshops, community health education classes designed to promote healthy eating and active living (heal), youth substance abuse prevention counseling and early intervention programming utilizing cultural community-defined practices. Other community engagement activities include participating in health fairs, pow wows, outreach events and hosting regular family & community events intended to strengthen the cultural collaboration between the health center and the local urban indian community. On average, sdaihc provides over 18,000 direct patient/community engagement encounters per year. Organizational backgroundthe san diego american indian health center (sdaihc) provides medical, dental, and behavioral health services, as well as other cultural, social and community services, to a population that is at risk because of significant health disparities and numerous barriers to accessing services. Sdaihc is an independent, nonprofit, indian-controlled ambulatory healthcare organization established in 1979 to provide multidisciplinary and comprehensive outpatient services to urban american indian and alaska natives (aian) living in the greater metropolitan san diego region. The health center is organized as an urban indian health organization (uiho) under title v of the indian health care improvement act, and we provide services without charge to urban aian populations who meet the eligibility requirements established by the indian health service (ihs), as well as other insured individuals regardless of race, color, gender, age, ancestry, mental and physical abilities, religion, socio-economic status, sexual orientation, or national origin. Our high-quality individualized healthcare services have been expanded over time to cover all people in need while maintaining a focus on the native american population. Governance & staffingsdaihc is governed by a board of directors a majority of who are members of the american indian community of san diego. The board of directors has responsibility for establishing and maintaining the legal entity of the organization and for ensuring compliance with all applicable laws, regulations, policies and procedures. The board provides for appropriate governance and management of the organization as defined in its bylaws and meets monthly to ensure the mission, goals and objectives of the organization are being met. The board determines organizational structure and ensures all personnel are qualified and adequately trained to carry out their work responsibilities. The board has appointed a chief executive officer who provides leadership to the organization and supervises the medical director, dental director, behavioral health director, chief financial officer and program development director. Traditional & cultural programmingthe san diego american indian health center offers a variety of groups and programs designed to strengthen cultural self-identity through the practice of traditional native american activities. These groups promote community wellness and enhance our organizations behavioral health programs by reducing mental health disparities prevalent within the urban native american community. They represent a set of practices accepted by community consensus to have demonstrated positive results. Part of an overall continuum of behavioral health care, many individuals who attend these groups have received therapeutic mental health treatment and/or substance abuse counseling and successfully support their recovery by sustaining relationships with the community. These programs are as follows:urban indian youth center, a prevention and early intervention program for native youth between the ages of 10 24, offering a variety of therapeutic, cultural education, and academic support activities which include drug and alcohol prevention, health and fitness education, current events discussion, healthy cooking classes, academic tutoring, cultural arts and dance, intertribal sports programs, american indian life skills classes and individual counseling. Spiritual solutions talking circle , a traditional native american talking circle that meets weekly as is facilitated by a navajo healer, offering prayer, drumming, and traditional ceremony and healing practices to promote community wellness and long-term recovery. Wellbriety support group, weekly peer-led sobriety support groups based on the white bison red road to recovery model and designed to support individuals in recovery from alcohol and substance abuse. Elders talking circle, a weekly intergenerational group emphasizing the traditional role of elders within the community, facilitated by a cherokee healer, using traditional cultural practices designed to promote community wellness. Beading & cultural arts, a weekly workshop designed to support community wellness and recovery. Mending broken hearts, a culturally-based weekly gathering, promoting healing from grief and loss by exploring healthy ways to process historical trauma. Facilitated by a native healer certified as a trainer for this curriculum, this group meets one evening a week for 13 weeks. These activities, while not directly associated with patient care, have an impact on groups of patients and the community as a whole. Although utilization of these programs is not recorded in our patient management system (rpms), improved use of the computerized public health activity data system (cphad) provides the health center the ability to (a) improve visibility of these programs and the workload of associated clinicians and facilitators, (b) stimulate a broader understanding of the role community wellness plays in improving the health of our community, (c) improve planning for staffing and capacity building, (d) influence improvements in gpra and other health promotion/disease prevention efforts, and (e) provide accountability to funding partners for grant supported programming. Unmet health care needs of the target populationnative americans are medically at risk because of a range of health disparitiesthe persistent gaps between the health status of minorities and non-minorities in the united states. Despite continued advances in health care and technology, racial and ethnic minorities continue to have more disease, disability, and premature death than non-minorities. American indians in urban areas suffer from chronic health conditions that are vastly disproportionate to the health status of the general population. Diagnoses of diabetes, heart disease, hypertension, tuberculosis, sexually transmitted diseases, and injuries are higher among aian populations. Aian people in san diego county are diagnosed with asthma, diabetes, heart disease, and high blood pressure at rates that exceed the rates of the general populationat more than twice the rate for three of these four chronic conditions. In addition, our target population exhibits behaviors that put them at risk for health issues, such as having tried marijuana or other illegal drugs or having delayed obtaining medication when it was prescribed.