Adolescent Health

Since 2002, FCHS has operated an Adolescent Health outreach program, funded by the City of Minneapolis (MDHFS) and State (MDH) Health Departments to target young people in North Minneapolis who are high-risk for sexually-transmitted infections (STIs). This community has a disproportionately high rate of STIs among African Americans in the 15-24 age group. Currently, Fremont is part of a research project, partnering with the Minneapolis Dept. of Health and Family Support and TAMS to reach disaffiliated and high-risk males on the streets. MDH helps fund FCHS' weekly walk-in clinic for males and females. The street outreach initiative, known as Seen on Da Streets, addresses clinic environments, community norms, and individual behavior toward increased awareness and use of STD prevention, testing and treatment options by the targeted population-including skills to negotiate the use of contraception and discuss reproductive health with sexual partners, increased use of condoms and the willingness and motivation to make use of community health services.

Youth Advocates educate and help screen young people through on-street and community-based education and testing, walk-in clinics, sexuality groups and one-on-one. In 2005, they reached over 2,500 young men on the street, conducted on-street screening of 486 young people (ages 15-24), carried out 478 in-clinic screening visits-resulting in a positivity rate (for urine testing) of 10% for females and 9% for males.

For more information, contact:
Fred Evans, Community Health Coordinator, 612-287-2423

Stroke Prevention

Focused on the African-American community in North Minneapolis and the Northwest corridor and on the general population of Northeast Minneapolis, the Stroke Prevention Project seeks to increase understanding of cardiovascular disease—including cardiac, stroke, peripheral vascular disease and diabetes. Its overall goal is to increase education, outreach and screening toward early detection and treatment of diabetes, hypertension, and high cholesterol. The Minnesota Department of Health and the Boston Scientific Foundation provide funding for this initiative.

Community peer educators provide a critical link to adult community members who are not connected to a health provider, who may not be aware that they have risk factors for stroke, and/or are not getting treatment for a diagnosed condition. Peer educators, from the geographic and ethnic communities they serve, have access to and rapport with the target population which disproportionately experiences cardiovascular disease and diabetes. Peer Educators receive ongoing culturally-appropriate training and support and are equipped with electronic blood pressure equipment to provide education, blood pressure and stroke risk screenings at community sites including churches, beauty shops, workplaces, public housing, nursing homes, and other locations and health events. They conduct walking clubs and oversee other self-management activities. Since the beginning of 2004, these projects have educated and screened thousands of community members!

For more information, contact:
* Carol Brown, LPN, Northside Stroke Project Coordinator, 612-588-9411

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Maternal and Child Health Case Management

At our Fremont and Sheridan Women & Children's Clinics, FCHS provides prenatal care to about 300 women annually. Recognizing the need for additional health education and non-medical supports for this population and the many teens and young families we see, a Patient Advocate provides intensive case management and information and these individuals in accessing support services that will help them to sustain and improve their health and improve self-sufficiency. The Patient Advocate helps connect our patients to concrete services such as housing, food, and childcare. Additionally, she links them to crisis management services and psychosocial support. The Patient Advocate is bilingual/bicultural (Spanish), providing a valuable resource to our many Latina/o families.

For more information, contact:
Verónica Velázquez Barron, 612-362-4182

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Patient Services Coordination

Our Patient Services Coordinator provides information on access, education on health insurance options, eligibility, basic health education and health care navigation to enhance individual and community health. Through outreach and marketing initiatives aimed at organizations and the general public-particularly children, families and the elderly-we seek to increase awareness of FCHS' programs and services. The Coordinator also works one-on-one with patients to assess and advocate for insurance eligibility and conducts Medical Assistance and other public health insurance enrollment activities to facilitate access to care and improve health outcomes. The Patient Services Coordinator encourages high risk patients to return to the clinic for needed appointments and to help identify reasons why patients fail to return to clinic and to provide interventions and support when needed.

For more information, contact:
Lada Gonzalez, 612-287-2466

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Access to Medication

Treatment through medication is a foundation of patient self-management, reducing complications, mortality and morbidity when diseases are treated early and aggressively. Unfortunately, many of our patients lack prescription drug coverage-even those who may be otherwise insured. FCHS increases our patients' access to needed medications through a variety of means:

• As a PHS 330-funded health center (Federal funding), we purchase select drugs at great discount through the federal 340B Drug Pricing Program. We share this cost-savings with our eligible (uninsured) patients through an in-house dispensary.
• We receive select sample medications from pharmaceutical companies to help some of our poorest patients who must take expensive drugs for chronic conditions.
• FCHS nurses assist hundreds of uninsured, low-income patients in accessing free medications through drug companies' Indigent Care programs.
• Our staff lends a hand to our patients who are 65+ and other eligible patients with disabilities to navigate the complex bureaucracy of Medicare Part D enrollment.
• Our MDs, Nurse Practitioners and other nursing staff provide counseling and health education around medication management to help our patients understand the purpose and limitations of medication and to increase compliance through education and efforts to make medication affordable.
  

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Other Community Participation

FCHS has always advocated for the health of our community by joining forces with other community, governmental and grassroots initiatives serving our geographic and cultural communities. Our programs focus on prevention, an integral part of our health care delivery model. We actively participate in local community networks, e.g., to improve services to youth, to expand access to mental health and other needed services and to advocate to maintain and expand the "safety net." Some of these initiatives include:

• Minnesota Health Department's "SAGE" Program (Breast and Cervical Cancer Control Program) that provides free or reduced cost mammography and Pap smears for uninsured women. SAGE also provides some financial help for treating abnormalities. FCHS also makes use of the mobile mammography unit available through North Memorial Health Care.
• Family Practice Residency Program (North Memorial/UFP) for hospitalized patients.
• Our physicians serve as preceptors for University of Minnesota doctors in residency training, advanced practice nurses and medical students.
• FCHS works with the Minnesota International Health Volunteers and other partners to advance community health worker education and employment.
• We are an active member of the Neighborhood Health Care Network, a shared management services collaborative that advocates for community health clinics serving economically and ethnically diverse populations in the Minneapolis-St. Paul metropolitan area. By working together, member clinics have access to more of financial resources, services and technology needed to provide high-quality care to more people. We are also part of the Minnesota Association of Community Health Centers, a non-profit organization that promotes the cost-effective delivery of affordable, quality primary health care services, with a special emphasis on meeting the needs of low-income and medically underserved populations.

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