October Cover Story: Providing healthcare services to entire community

By Frank X. Moraga / Amigos805

For Dr. Cheryl Lambing, health care and the upcoming Binational Health Week Conference (Oct. 18) offers a very personal link.

“It’s close to my own heart,” said Lambing, who was born in Santa Maria. “My family is Hispanic and it’s very important” to connect health services and education with the community.

“I bring my mom to the conference every year and she has the opportunity to connect with friends in the community,” Lambing said. “She said the conference is the highlight of her year.”

Lambing, medical director for professional and community education for the Ventura County Health Care Agency, has been working with Binational Health Week for the past four years, when a previous conference was held in Santa Barbara.

“As a medical director responsible for outreach, this connects my work and home,” she said. “It’s bringing health services in the community together with the community.”

According to the group’s website (http://www.binationalhealthweek.org): “Binational Health Week (BHW) is the largest mobilization effort in the Americas to improve the health and well being of the underserved Latino population living in the United States and Canada. During BHW, federal, state and local government agencies, community-based organizations and thousands of volunteers come together in the month of October to conduct a series of health promotion and health education activities including workshops, insurance referrals, vaccinations and medical screenings.”

An estimated 4,216 activities were held in 2012, benefitting 466,770 individuals, organizers reported. That compares to 98 activities held during the first year of the program in 2001, which benefitted 18,720 individuals.

This is the 13th year the event will be held in the U.S. and Canada, with the participation of the consular networks of Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Bolivia, organizers reported. The main topics for this year are: Access to Health Care and the Health Care Reform in the U.S., Infectious Diseases, Chronic Diseases, Occupational Health and Mental Health.

Locally, 15 to 20 healthcare and other community partners serve on the Binational Health Week committee, including Dr. Robert Gonzalez, director of the Ventura County Health Care Agency; Adriana Gonzalez, community outreach manager for the Ventura County Health Care Agency; Ivan Rodriguez of the Ventura County Health Care Agency and the Mexican Consulate’s Ventanilla de Salud / Window of Health program; Rigoberto Vargas, director of the Ventura County Public Health Department; and Luis Tovar, ethnic services manager for Ventura County Behavioral Health.

“Binational Health Week focuses on education and collaboration,” Lambing said. “Quite frankly, education is power and we work to set the foundation upon which to build. For Latinos, health disparities and challenges to accessing health services are magnified by larger socio-economic inequalities like race, ethnicity, citizen status, employment opportunities, educational opportunities and working conditions, among others.

“Even with national and local work to remedy these disparities, it still takes a village, the whole community to ensure the success of our families,” she said. “That is the greater goal.”

A series of health screenings and events connected with Binational Health Week 2013 will be held throughout the region starting Oct. 7. (See page 9 for some of the scheduled activities).

The Binational Health Week Conference will be held from 8:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. Friday, Oct. 18 at the Westside Neighborhood Center, 423 W. Victoria St., Santa Barbara.

“The main topics for Binational Health Week 2013 encompass ‘Access to Health Care and Health Care Systems,’ ” she said.

As of press time, the proposed agenda includes an introduction to the conference by U.S. Rep. Lois Capps, D-Santa Barbara; Salud Carbajal, Santa Barbara First District Supervisor and board chair; Dr. Takashi Wada, director / health officer, County of Santa Barbara, and Cónsul de México Ana Berenice Díaz Ceballos.

Gonzalez, of the Ventura County Health Care Agency, is scheduled to give the opening remarks, “Health Reform Vision of Ventura County; followed by Wada’s presentation, “Health Reform Vision of Santa Barbara.”

“Doctors Gonzalez and Wada will address Latino health, the cultural aspects and immigration impact on the health of Latinos in our community, within the context of national and international trends,” Lambing said.

At the 2012 conference in Oxnard, Gonzalez provided information on the health disparity impacting the Hispanic community, details on chronic diseases like diabetes, and the rate of infection among the population, she said.

“He was able to unveil some very poignant points regarding our population,” she said. “It really impressed me last year and impressed a lot folks at the conference.”

Javier Ortega, HIV & Hepatitus C program coordinator for the Santa Barbara Neighborhood Clinic; and Lynn Bartosh, head of HIV and AIDS Surveillance for Ventura County Public Health, are scheduled to give a presentation on HIV and its effect on the local Latino population.

In a report by the Ventura County AIDS Advisory Committee to the Ventura County Board of Supervisors, Latinos comprised 43 percent of Ventura County AIDS cases in 2011, up from 32 percent reported the previous year. Latinos also comprised 38 percent of Ventura County HIV cases, up from 32 percent reported the previous year.

Information will also be provided on other chronic diseases affecting Latinos including Hepatitus C and diabetes and changes in the screening process, Lambing said.

“There are new screening parameters and so we need to continue to share those changes,” she said.

A presentation on health care and migrant workers is also scheduled.

“There are a lot of challenges to accessing health care, including employment,” Lambing said. “But it’s not just the workers, but their family as well — having the educational opportunities about health care, about getting vaccines. This is also about how we are doing and how we can do better.”

The conference also provides an opportunity to dispel myths and provide information on the Affordable Care Act. Open enrollment for the health insurance marketplace or exchange, known locally as Covered California — http://www.coveredca.com — begins Oct. 1, with coverage beginning Jan. 1, 2014.

“There are many questions from everyone on how health care may change,” Lambing said. “Much of the discussion in newspapers is very scary, but we are actually expanding services. It’s all about education and how this is going to impact the individual.”

The committee has been working closely with the new Mexican cónsul, who said the work of the Binational Health Week program complements her vision for a long-term health and education plan for Latinos in the Ventura, Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo counties region.

“She is an amazing individual, a true leader in our tri-county area and for the people we are all fortunate to serve,” Lambing said. “She came to meet with us and described just traveling to Guadalupe,” a small rural town near Santa Maria where Lambing would go to visit her grandmother.

“She said she was saddened by the lack of healthcare services and she desired to see better outcomes,” Lambing said. “(The Consul) said she was very pleased with how engaged we are.”

The day following the conference, the Binational Health Week “Health Fair” will again be presented from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 19 at the Ventura College Market Place, at the corner of Telegraph and Day roads, Ventura.

Supported by the Ventura College Foundation, the event features health screenings (blood pressure, body mass index, glucose, vision exams), along with information on Alzheimer’s disease, mental health and child safety.

“This is such a great opportunity to be within the Market Place providing great information on the services within the county,” Maria-Felix Ryan, Promotora de Salud, stated in a release. “Last year we had great attendance and hundreds of persons walked away with good health information and had health screenings. With Covered California starting officially October 1, I am looking forward to providing the community with this information.”

Lambing said Binational Health Week activities in the region are truly a collaborative effort, bringing together numerous community partners such as the Ventanilla de Salud, Community Memorial Hospital, Clinicas del Camino Real, the Alzheimer’s Association and Reiter Affiliated Companies, which provides health clinics for its workers and families.

While the program was initially envisioned as one week of activities, Lambing agreed it has certainly expanded.

“It’s bigger than the month of October,” she said. “It has helped developed collaborations all year long.”