106000-106036
HEALTH AND SAFETY CODE
SECTION 106000-106036
106000. The Urban Community Health Institute: Centers to Eliminate Health Disparities is hereby established at the Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science to address the problem of disparate health care in the Los Angeles County Service Planning Area (SPA 6) and other multicultural communities that have the worst health care status indicators, medical outcomes, and death rates in Los Angeles County. The institute shall be organized into three clinical centers and a shared resource core. 106005. (a) The duties of the institute shall include both of the following: (1) Designing and conducting a series of complementary projects to eliminate racial, ethnic, cultural, and linguistic health disparities through culturally sensitive preventive health education, health risk appraisal, risk factor screening, and programs to facilitate appropriate medical followup and treatment. (2) Providing integrated leadership in developing, implementing, evaluating, and sustaining services and programmatic partnerships between the scientific disciplines of the Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science, community-based organizations, and agencies in the public sector. (b) The objectives of the institute shall include all of the following: (1) Strengthening partnerships among community-based organizations in multicultural areas in the vicinity of Los Angeles. (2) Building the capacity for community service of the Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science and local community-based organizations while addressing specific community health care issues using a broadly based interdisciplinary integrative community service model of health care. (3) Developing a well-defined central focus and an efficient and cost effective organizational structure in which each project of the institute is related to the shared resource core. (c) The institute shall employ the following strategies to achieve its objectives: (1) Assemble a multidisciplinary cadre of health professionals, public health experts, and community health workers to operate the clinical centers and shared resource core and implement community service programs, and provide the infrastructure to support the development, implementation, and evaluation of community-based programs to eliminate health disparities. (2) Establish the administrative, educational, methodological, computational, and communication infrastructure, including personnel, facilities, and technology, to support the activities of the institute. (3) Bring the diverse scientific and governmental resources of the community, local organizations, public sector, and the Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science together in an integrated effort to eliminate health disparities. (4) Gather local and regional surveillance data and conduct primary and secondary data collection to assess the extent, severity, clinical characteristics, causes, and solutions to the problem of disparities in health outcomes, disease progression, morbidity, and mortality of stroke and hypertension, obesity and nutrition, and HIV/AIDS. (5) Implement community-focused interventions and demonstration projects to eliminate disparities in the evaluation and treatment of stroke and hypertension, obesity and nutrition, and HIV/AIDS, based on information from the work of the institute and local and regional resources. (6) Apply population-based sciences, including epidemiology, outcome assessment, and informatics, to projects that address risk factors as well as behavioral, environmental, clinical, and biological contributors to disparities in stroke and hypertension, obesity, diabetes, and HIV/AIDS. (7) Serve as a community resource for technical assistance and training in the communication and dissemination of information, and for the synthesis, interpretation, and dissemination of health indicator data and public health information relevant to diverse communities. (8) Facilitate the development of lasting academic and community partnerships that promote healthy lifestyles, prevent disease, reduce risk factors for disease, and increase ongoing access to culturally appropriate health care for stroke and hypertension, obesity, diabetes, and HIV/AIDS. 106010. (a) The clinical centers described in Section 106000 shall include the Stroke and Hypertension Center, the Obesity and Nutrition Center, and the HIV/AIDS Center. (b) The centers shall target and address illnesses that are related biologically and clinically and are characterized by outcomes that are disparate between minority populations and that of the overall community. (c) The centers shall initially focus on health promotion, disease prevention, health risk assessment, and health screening services in connection with target medical conditions in minority populations that are experiencing disparate outcomes in relation to the overall community in regard to target conditions. However, over time, each center shall develop a portfolio of projects that also address these target conditions in all racial, ethnic, and cultural groups. 106015. (a) The Stroke and Hypertension Center shall initially work in partnership with the American Heart Association in developing culturally appropriate, communitywide stroke awareness and training programs. (b) The center shall also work towards providing additional services, including a stroke screening program directed by the Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science, using carotid ultrasound testing. 106020. The Obesity and Nutrition Center shall work in partnership with local elementary and middle schools to conduct culturally appropriate antiobesity, diet, nutrition, and exercise education programs, coupled with structured exercise and weight reduction activities. 106025. The HIV/AIDS Center shall conduct prevention, education, and counseling programs in high-risk populations identified through partnerships between the center and community-sponsored outreach programs in local neighborhoods and in local social gathering places of individuals with a high risk for HIV infection. 106030. (a) The shared resource core shall provide administrative, technical, educational, and health information dissemination services to multiple projects conducted, in collaboration, by the Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science and community-based organizations. (b) The duties of the shared resource core shall include all of the following: (1) Helping to provide program administration services, project management, fiscal support, resource allocation, and program evaluation. (2) Assisting in the collection, management, and analysis of primary and secondary data, and providing methodological and computational support and training. (3) Helping implement community-focused health promotion, disease prevention, and health screening interventions and demonstration projects. (4) Aiding in the synthesis, interpretation, and dissemination of information on disparities in health indicators, medical outcomes, death rates, and other aspects of health inequalities. (c) The objectives of the shared resource core shall include both of the following: (1) To achieve economies of scale in effort, expertise, and equipment, and thereby build the capacity of the community and the Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science to develop, implement, and evaluate community programs to reduce health disparities. (2) To pool services, expertise, equipment, and facilities to support several interrelated projects and collaborating organizations, thereby impacting health disparities with greater resources than those that would be provided separately to each project and without formal interaction among the Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science, community-based organizations, and public sector agencies. 106035. (a) The President of the Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science shall appoint an external advisory committee, composed of nine individuals who are nationally or regionally recognized for their expertise in eliminating health disparities, to oversee and evaluate all institute activities. (b) The president shall appoint an internal steering committee, composed of leadership from the institute and members of community-based organizations, public sector agencies, and projects, to supervise the day-to-day activities of the institute. (c) The institute shall sponsor and conduct an annual Urban Community Health Forum as a communitywide symposium. The forum shall provide a report on the progress of the institute, offer technical assistance workshops, and provide an overview of local, regional, and national efforts concerning health disparities. 106036. This part shall be implemented only to the extent that private or federal funding is received for this purpose.