Services
Alcance/REACH US
HealthVisions Midwest
Lead: Raquel Castro
Goal: The CDC funds the Alcance/REACH US program. The program focuses on decreasing racial and ethnic disparities among minority populations. It offers services for pregnancy assistance, community referrals and Spanish interpretation. The main goal is to decrease the Hispanic infant mortality in Lake County; however, we provide assistance to everyone regardless of ethnicity or race. In doing so we contribute to bettering the health of everyone in Northwest Indiana.
The program has a direct service component that assists pregnant women in accessing healthcare with a larger-picture focus that will advocate for a greater systemic change within the community.
To this end, the REACH/Alcance Coalition's purpose is to engage leadership within the local Hispanic community that will be a driving force to achieve change in our communities. The Coalition will work with community leaders, partners and collaborators who will help us in reaching our goals and help the overarching CDC's REACH U.S. goal to decrease health disparities.
Downloads: Please see the Alcance flyer.
Website: http://reach-alcance.org
Breast and Cervical Cancer Program
HealthVisions Midwest
Lead: Quinnesia Bell
The Indiana Breast and Cervical Cancer Program (BCCP) is a statewide public health program dedicated to saving lives and reducing the devastating effects of breast and cervical cancer for Indiana women.
The BCCP provides women with high-quality screening and diagnostic services to detect breast and cervical cancer at the earliest most treatable stages.
BCCP provides FREE clinical breast exams, mammograms and Pap test to women 40 -64 who meet the program qualifications as well as diagnostic testing for women whose screening outcome is abnormal. BCCP serves between 6,000 and 7,000 women annually. Eligibility is limited to women who are at or below 200% of the federal poverty level, 40-64 years of age, and uninsured or underinsured.
Contact: Call the Northwest Regional BCCP office at HealthVisions Midwest today for more information about BCCP at (219) 844-2698 ext. 103 & 104.
Additional Information: Indiana Family Helpline at (855) 435-HELP-1ST or (855) 435-7178 or visit Indiana Department of Health.
Homelessness Prevention and Rapid Re-Housing Program (HPRP)
HealthVisions Midwest
Lead: Sr. Margaret Anne Henss, PHJC
The program provides financial assistance and services to either prevent individuals and families from becoming homeless or help those who are experiencing homelessness to be quickly re-housed and stabilized. The local Grantee for the funds is the Continuum of Care Network (COC) for Gary, Hammond and East Chicago, Indiana. HealthVisions Midwest administers the funds for the COC.
Maternal Child Health Network of Lake County
HealthVisions Midwest
Lead: Clementine Dubose and Sharon McGuire
Goal: The care coordination services of the Maternal Child Health Network agencies are State and Federally funded projects with the goal of reducing the infant mortality in Lake County, Indiana. Our Missions are to assist women in having healthy babies, reduce infant deaths, reduce low birth weight, and establish ongoing preventive health services for children. These services will be administered professionally and with respect, dignity, courtesy and compassion, regardless of sex, age, creed, religion or culture. HealthVisions Midwest sponsors three sites Great Beginnings and NATALE in Gary, Indiana and Promotres de Salud Maternal e Infantil in East Chicago, Indiana.
Downloads: Prenatal Coordination Service
Mom's Taking Charge
HealthVisions Midwest
Lead: Sr. Annemarie Kampwerth, PHJC
Funded by: The Foundations of East Chicago
"Mom's Taking Charge" helps families learn how to become self-sufficient in the face of multiple crises. The partners in collaboration are Salvation Army, Healthy East Chicago, Ivy Tech Community College, Haven House, East Chicago Courts and HealthVisions Midwest.
This program uses the concept of the Family Support Specialist (FSS) to work directly with local families over a length of time to help them build family assets. The FSS is a local, community person who serves in a paraprofessional fashion. The FSS provides outreach to families that normally might not seek out services, working within community settings such as grocery stores, local businesses, beauty shops, churches, and other natural congregational spaces to recruit families. This model is similar to the Community Health Worker model and is ideal in that it builds trust between service provider and families in need, thus increasing the potential for families to follow-up on referred services. The other key element of the program is developing a comprehensive continuum of local service providers.
Allen County Health Disparity Coalition
HealthVisions of Fort Wayne
Lead: Renetta Williams
The Allen County Health Disparity Coalition's mission is to eliminate health disparities in Allen County
As a community activist, in 2003, Renetta H. Williams formed the Allen County Health Disparity Coalition (ACHDC), a program of HealthVisions which addresses health disparity in the minority community. The coalition began with 10 area agencies and has grown to over 70 organizations addressing the lack of health care in Allen County for the minority community.
The ACHDC has developed a strategic plan to address, mental health, health and nutrition, language and culture, and diabetes.
In the fall of 2009, the coalition introduced the first Community Based Participatory Research project to our community that targeted the African America/Black and the Latino/Hispanic populations. The research project was entitled, "Empowering Fort Wayne Communities to Self Managing Diabetes."
The ACHDC meets the 4th Wednesday of every month from 9:00 a.m. – 10:30 a.m. at the Fort Wayne Urban League.
Bienvenido Program
HealthVisions of Fort Wayne
Lead: Zenaida Velez-Chandler
Mission Statement: The Bienvenido Program is a prevention intervention program that increases access to mental health services, improves mental health, and quality of life of Latino immigrants.
Vision Statement: To provide a caring and supportive environment where individuals can achieve their full potential, give and receive respect, develop personal responsibility and self-determination.
Empowerment Model: Assist immigrants in their acknowledgement of the trauma they suffered during immigration and current stigmatized social status helps them to recognize sources associated with maladaptive behavior.
Program Goals:
- To reduce alcohol and drug use and related outcomes
- To increase access to and use of mental health services
- To increase sense of belonging and participation in the community
Curriculum Content:
- The Bienvenido curriculum is a 9 week strengths-based mental health educational curriculum
- Enhance awareness of mental health; clarify a participant's personal goals for an enhanced quality of life
- Develop skills to reduce risk for emotional and behavioral risks associated with mental distress
Diabetes Education Empowerment Program (DEEP)
HealthVisions of Fort Wayne
Lead: Zenaida Velez-Chandler and Peggy Hayes
This model utilizes trained community health workers – many of them living with type 2 diabetes-as diabetes educators and is aimed at reducing diabetes mortality and morbidity and related complications. The program consists of two components: 1) The Training of Trainers Program and 2) The Diabetes Patient Education Program.
The Training of Trainers Program is a 20-hour workshop that stresses the development of skills and knowledge related to diabetes by using interactive group activities and adults education methodologies recommended in the curriculum. The original intent was to train health promoters with the basic skills and knowledge to become effective diabetes educators: however due to public demand, the program has been modified to train community health professionals who want to obtain and update on diabetes and /or learn education techniques for patients with low level of health literacy within a cultural framework.
The Diabetes Patient Education Program is implemented by trained health promoters in 8-10 weekly sessions. These sessions present to the Patient the content of the educational curriculum with the necessary knowledge and skills for diabetes self-management.
Empowering Fort Wayne Communities to Self-Manage Diabetes
HealthVisions of Fort Wayne
Lead: Jomare Bowers-Mizzell
This diabetes project is to measure the effectiveness of diabetes training to improve self-management of diabetes in the African American/Black and Latino/Hispanic populations. The project aims to increase awareness, beliefs, and ability to manage diabetes, and pilot the data collection tools.
Infant Mortality and Death Reporting Task Force
HealthVisions of Fort Wayne
Lead: Renetta H. Williams and Jomare Bowers-Mizzell
This is a partnership with the Allen County Health Department, Indiana Department of Health, Indiana Purdue Fort Wayne the College if Health & Human Services and Purdue University, Lafayette, Indiana.
Program Goals:
- Review and study death certificates of all infants deaths from 2005-2010.
- Review all medical record associated with infant deaths in the same period
- Review current study results and other available material regarding infant mortality
- Based on review & materials results, develop local intervention as needed.
Faith Health Ministries
HealthVisions East St. Louis
Faith Health Ministries help churches promote and integrate faith and healthy living for their members and the community of faith they serve.
- Consult with congregations about developing and enhancing Health Ministries.
- Link congregations with local resources for Health Ministries.
- Train congregational members in health, safety, spirituality, nutrition and exercise.
- Work with the congregation to customize programs to fit the congregational needs.
- Provide ongoing support to congregations.
Download: FHM Brochure
Interested in Partnering with Faith Health Ministries? Download More Information
Faith in Action to Serve and Transform (FAST)
HealthVisions East St. Louis
Lead: Paula Wills
Inspired by the compassion of Christ, FAST provides interfaith, volunteer based non-medical support and care giving services to individuals who are homebound, frail, elderly, disabled or afflicted with chronic illnesses in the Greater East St. Louis community. FAST seeks to ease loneliness and isolation.
Goal:
- Empower faith-based organizations to identify their talents and gifts and use them to provide or improve services.
- Develop and facilitate partnerships with faith communities and other health and social organizations.
- Provide advocacy and non-medical support services to the elderly, poor and disabled.
- Promote holistic health.
- Address systemic community health needs.
- Identify and secure funding and resources.
Services:
- Friendly visits
- Telephone reassurance
- Information and referral
- Light housekeeping
- Yard work
- Ramp installation
- Transportation
- Financial and personal record keeping
- Food pantry
Healthy Communities of LaPorte County
Healthy Communities of LaPorte County
Goal: As a partner of Healthy Communities of LaPorte County we collaborate with other organizations in LaPorte County in finding solutions to issues that impact the emotional, physical and spiritual health and overall quality of life of the citizens of that county. We are specifically involved in the Health Council and establishing and implementing a child maternal health network for the county with specific programs for pregnant women.