National authorities across Europe have been developing outreach measures to address the needs of people who slip through the cracks of standard education, training and employment policies. People who lack basic life and work skills require holistic strategies, which may mobilize health, social and psychological services and delay standard…

This monograph describes how an SOC approach, coupled with specialized early psychosis intervention, can create a sustainable infrastructure, significantly decrease the duration of untreated psychosis, and improve service delivery and outcomes for youth and young adults with early signs of psychosis. [This product was made possible, in part, with…

A group of 41 Tulsa Tech students and two instructors volunteered to the Mission of Mercy, a free, two-day dental clinic co-sponsored by the Oklahoma Dental Association, the Delta Dental of Oklahoma Charitable Foundation and the Oklahoma Dental Foundation held downtown at the Tulsa Convention Center. The clinic was designed to meet the critical…

This article describes a model program called EXITO which was developed to help elderly Hispanics in Natalia, Texas, make use of health and social services that they had not previously taken advantage of because of low income, language and cultural differences, and geographic isolation. (EB)

Marshall University School of Medicine, a new community-based medical school in Huntington, West Virginia which aims to improve the number and distribution of physicians in West Virginia through active involvement of its faculty and residents in primary care delivery, is described. (Author/MLW)

The state of Indiana took a unique approach to developing a statewide plan to improve perinatal health outcomes by engaging parents in a series of focus groups, called Community Conversations in Perinatal Care (CCPC), to hear directly from consumers about their health care experiences and needs. Recognizing that disparities exist among different…

Children with vision loss often have health care needs beyond those that are related to their vision. In 2006-2007, the Blind Childrens Center rendered more extensive services than ever before. Home visits, transportation services, medical appointments, hospital visits, mediations, meetings for individual educational/family service plans,…

Instead of increasing institutionalization of the elderly, the author suggests increasing life enhancing programs with preventive health care. She discusses various health and social services in New York City, including outreach projects, day care programs for the elderly, and the value of senior center-hospital cooperative services. (MF)

The Florida A & M University College of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Services' commitment to community outreach is evidenced in these program emphases: acceptance and retention portfolios for students and pharmacies; effective recruiting of local students into college programs; attention to critical health care deficiencies; applied research;…

In 1985, the New York City Health Care for the Homeless Program began providing health care and social services to homeless people. The program seeks to provide care to those homeless people with the least access to services, reaching out to them in soup kitchens, shelters, and hotels. This paper summarizes what has been learned since 1985 about…

For organizations providing support to mental health consumers, "cultural competency," or the ability to reach out effectively and appropriately to individuals of different cultural backgrounds, is central to meeting the needs of a diverse community. The Cultural Competency Initiative, which was launched in the year 2000, assisted…

This assessment of Medicaid's Early Periodic Screening, Diagnosis and Treatment (EPSDT) program for children, based on a 2-year survey of national data and a study of EPSDT programs in five states (Michigan, Mississippi, New Jersey, New York and South Carolina), documents inadequate health resources for low-income children and their families. The…