Community Outreach Activities

UTHSC-H fulfills its community service mission in many diverse ways. Through a variety of institutional and school-driven programs, the university provides much needed health care and health education services to members of our community who might otherwise not have these benefits.

We also seek to fulfill our service mission through informational outreach to the larger community with innovative programs and services designed to educate and enrich the lives of community members in Houston, the state and the nation. Spots such as those on KUHF radio promote preventive health care and lifestyle management techniques in urban and rural areas throughout Harris County.

Dental Branch
Dental Branch community outreach efforts are extensive and are part of the educational programs offered in the school. The Dental Branch has affiliations with 48 HISD schools and over 30 clinics, community agencies and long-term health care centers where students provide oral health education and clinical care. The Dental Branch is one of the primary sources of charity care in the Greater Houston Area – providing over $971,000 of free dental care in FY 2003.

The Dental Branch’s Dental Hygiene Program also has active outreach programs with off-site activities that include both educational projects and clinical care. Beginning in 1998, the second year hygiene students were invited by The Brookwood Community Center to present an oral health workshop for both caregivers and residents. In one group, students worked with the caregivers of the center to help them recognize dental disease and teach them how to assist the residents with dental cleaning. Another group of students made an oral health/prevention presentation for the residents.

Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences
The Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences (GSBS) outreach program continued its now 11-year alliance with HISD’s Alcott and Brookline Elementary Schools by interacting with students in the third, fourth and fifth grades. These schools serve predominantly disadvantaged communities. In the reporting year, the GSBS outreach program served 278 students and through these partnerships, GSBS graduate students and faculty raised the understanding and enthusiasm for science through numerous initiatives. The projects included coaching teams of students in scientific methods and giving class demonstrations to supplement science teachers’ lectures. The Benny Garcia Young Scientist Award was presented by GSBS for the fourth year at Brookline Elementary.

In 2002-2003, the GSBS outreach program provided judges for six local school science fairs plus a regional science fair; hosted two visits of 80 students participating in the annual National Youth Leadership Forum as well as the Regional Science Fair for 100 individuals; provided lectures for 33 science teachers at UT Pan American; hosted a total of 83 elementary and high school students for five tours of research labs; provided round table discussions of science careers and graduate education; and provided guest speakers for the University of Houston-Downtown and the Black Academic Council affecting 1,000 students. Continued expansion of participation in the Houston Hispanic Forum Career and Education Day included Hispanic graduate students as panelists for discussion of the topic Why I Chose Graduate School, as well as featured panel speakers who discussed careers in biomedical research and hosted a booth with nearly 1,000 direct visitors.

The GSBS Alumni Association provided hands on programs in biomedical sciences education to 300 5th graders at Sylvan Rodriguez Elementary School focusing on cell reproduction in addition to a presentation in conjunction with the 50th Anniversary Celebration for the discovery of the structure of DNA. Additional GSBS community service efforts included the followng: provided students and faculty video-teleconferencing presentations to 96 students at Northbrook Middle School for Sigma Xi Scientific Research Society; initiated a booth at the Health Profession Fair for the Gifted and Talented Program for Ft. Bend Independent School District; participated in the American Chemical Society’s National Chemistry Week; participated in the UT-Pan American-NASA Science Conference for 6th through College students; and provided a speaker for UT-Brownsville, UT-Pan American, and several school districts in the Valley.

Medical School
The Medical School’s Office of Community Affairs and Public Education is involved in a variety of community outreach functions. It works with and supports the Office of Public Affairs and UT Physicians. The staff also works with the Medical School’s Office of Continuing Medical Education to coordinate flyers, public relations and written material for publications.

Editorial and writing support and strategic planning are focus areas in the community education initiative of the American Heart Association, Houston Division. The office organizes and participates in community presentations featuring Medical School faculty and health promotion topics. Additionally, community affairs staff participate in UTHSC-H’s Speakers Bureau.

The Children’s Assessment Center (CAC) is a collaboration of the Harris County Commissioners Court and The Children’s Assessment Center Foundation. CAC provides a professional, compassionate and coordinated approach to the treatment of sexually abused children and their families, and serves as an advocate for all children in Harris County. The center houses professionals from 15 partner agencies, which include law enforcement, the UTHSC-H Medical School, a psychological/psychiatric school and governmental investigative entities. The following services are provided: forensic interviews, sexual assault medical exams, a variety of therapeutic services and psychological evaluations. Faculty members from the Medical School provide medical care at the CAC under the direction of a Medical School director. Students and residents (family practice and pediatrics) from the Medical and Nursing Schools as well as social work students from the University of Houston take rotations at the center. In October 2002, the CAC opened a 24-hour clinic for sexual assault victims.

School of Nursing
Maintaining strong ties with area health providers, agencies and community leaders is an important part of the educational outreach efforts at the School of Nursing (SON). The school offers an innovative and collaborative work/study/scholarship program with seven local hospitals. Through employment as patient care assistants, students receive valuable clinical experience and, after completing one successful semester, they receive a scholarship for their remaining semesters of full-time undergraduate study. The program has expanded involving over 40 percent of the entering class.

SON faculty and students provide outreach service to families and individuals in several affiliated clinics throughout the Houston area and selected schools in the Houston Independent School District.

School of Public Health
Faculty and students of the School of Public Health (SPH) in Houston and at the school’s regional campuses in Brownsville, Dallas, El Paso and San Antonio are actively involved in a large number of community outreach projects and activities.

Students in the MPH and DrPH degree programs complete an internship or practicum as part of their curriculum. This is an assignment to a community agency or organization where the student has the opportunity to learn about community health practice in a real world setting. Students work in a wide range of public and private sector settings. Special extended internship programs include: Health Policy Fellowships wherein fellows serve as full-time staff to members of the Texas Legislature; Comparative Health Care internships with Richmond College, International University in London; and Industrial Hygiene and Dietetic internships with various industries and organizations. Students complete tasks jointly assigned by an agency preceptor and a faculty sponsor. Currently there are over 350 assignments available to students. Since 1995, 904 students have participated in the internship program.

The Texas Public Health Training Center is an initiative funded by the US Department of Health and Human Services, Health Resources and Services Administration. This is a collaborative project which includes the Texas A&M University School of Rural Public Health and the University of North Texas School of Public Health. The Texas Department of Health, local health departments, state public health associations and community members participate as members of an Advisory Council to the Training Center. The Training Center provides a wide range of training services to the staff and board members of local health departments and the state health department as well as to local and state elected officials.

Community-based projects currently underway in the regional campuses include:
Brownsville Regional Campus

• Conducting a teen pregnancy prevention project jointly with Cameron County Health Department and Brownsville Healthy Communities to identify risk factors and provide training.
• Administering a newly formed bi-national tuberculosis consortium to address the problems of multi-drug resistant tuberculosis. Members, in addition to the Brownsville Regional Campus, include the Cameron County Health Department, Hidalgo County Health Department, Webb County Health Department, the Regional Office of the Texas Department of Health, and Mexican tuberculosis authorities in Reynosa, Matamoros and Monterrey. The purpose of the project is to improve databases, generate a geographic information system map of cases and conduct research to improve surveillance and case finding.

Dallas Regional Campus

• Consulting to a community HIV prevention project training center.
• Developing a broadly representative community coalition to promote and support community medicine and public health planning and interventions in the Dallas area.

El Paso Regional Campus

• Assisting the American Cancer Society Project Amigas to produce a bilingual video promoting cervical cancer intervention.
• Assisting the El Paso Diabetes Association to develop evaluation and assessment methods for diabetes in the local population.
• Conducting a National Institute of Health funded assessment of the extent of H pylori infection in the El Paso-Juarez communities.
• Working with Safe Communities, a local non-governmental organization, to develop a surveillance system for detection of risk behavior associated with substance abuse in the local community.

San Antonio Regional Campus

• Providing leadership for the Health Education Training Center Alliance of Texas, a federally funded (Health Resources and Services Administration) technical assistance and training support project for communities that coordinates the efforts of multiple health care and educational institutions throughout the state.
• Conducting a recent Bexar County community based environmental health assessment and a comprehensive community health assessment; the latter now available on the Internet.
• Providing technical assistance to San Fernando Cathedral annual Health Fair.

Coordinated Approach To Child Health (CATCH) Program is an elementary school nutrition and physical activity program designed to prevent chronic disease, such as cardiovascular disease and diabetes. The mission of the CATCH Program is to create healthy children and healthy school environments throughout Texas. CATCH is designed to help schools, children and their families adopt healthy eating and physical activity behaviors through changes at the elementary school level. The four CATCH components are: (1) Classroom Curriculum (Go for Health), (2) Physical Education curriculum (CATCH PE), (3) Food Service Program (Eat Smart), and (4) Family Involvement (Home Team). More than 1,200 schools have adopted the program, and over 5,000 teachers and staff have been trained. For further information contact Steve Kelder, 713 500 9636.

UTHSC-H has been instrumental in establishing the Rusk School Health Promotion Project as a model school-linked primary care clinic. Using an interdisciplinary model, UTHSC-H faculty and students provide preventive and curative care, health assessments and dental care to the predominantly poor Hispanic students. Colleagues from the University of Houston also provide help with curricula development, optometry services, as well as social support to the students and their families. UTHSC-H and project staffers continue to work with the faculty of the school to integrate health promotion and wellness concepts into the elementary school curriculum.

UT Harris County Psychiatric Center
The University of Texas Harris County Psychiatric Center (UTHCPC) provides leadership in the area of community outreach through participation in a variety of community activities. UTHCPC develops and disseminates mental health information to the community and acts as a catalyst in creating an environment that promotes the exchange of ideas in topics of high priority and relevancy to the public mental health system of Harris County. During FY 2003, UTHCPC participated in a number of health and community education fairs providing mental health information to more than 50,000 people.

UTHCPC works in cooperation with mental health consumer groups, such as the Alliance for the Mentally Ill, the Depressive and Manic Depressive Association, the Mental Health Association and service providers such as the Harris County Mental Health Mental Retardation Authority. The center provides printed materials, plans community education symposia and seminars, conducts hospital tours and coordinates a Speakers Bureau, thus making UTHCPC’s professional staff available to Houston area community and school groups.

UTHCPC continued its innovative tele-education project that provides HISD teachers with the opportunity to consult regularly with UTHCPC psychiatrists, psychologists and social workers trained in children’s mental health problems. More than 800 local school teachers, social workers and guidance counselors participated in training sessions regarding youth violence and recognizing signs of behavior disorders. They also received contact information regarding services available to children and adolescents suffering from mental illness.

The center participates in the Head Start and Neighborhood Centers, Inc. Faculty members from the Medical School conduct semi-annual class room observations and offer feedback to Head Start staff regarding behavioral management relating to children’s behavior and classroom management. They also provide consultations and/or training for parents and staff members, and assessments and short- term therapy for children and/or families. A goal is to assist Head Start staff with integrating mental health into classroom curricular.

The Wesley Community Center benefits from UTHCPC faculty providing psychiatric assessments, evaluations, consultations and recommendations for treatment for adult patients. Follow up visits are provided by MDs or nurse practitioners in individual, group and family therapy sessions. The staff also provide educational services to the community center.

The after school program for children and adolescents with emotional problems PASS: Partners in After School Services began operation in September 2002 with grants from the Hogg Foundation and the Meadows Foundation with additional funding and in-kind services from UTHCPC and the Houston Independent School District. The pilot program is located at Lockhart Elementary School in HISD and serves 24 at-risk students with counseling, mentor training and parental involvement activities.

UTHCPC provides a sub-acute program that includes assessment, treatment and family counseling for juvenile offenders. Funded through Harris County and the Harris County Juvenile Probation Department, the program serves 16 adolescents, who have an average length of stay of 30 days.

Janice Bilan,
Dental Branch

Linda Carter,
Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences

Darla Brown,
Medical School

Margaret McNeese,
Medical School

Gwen Sherwood,
School of Nursing

Hardy Loe,
School of Public Health

Steven Kelder,
School of Public Health

Mark Hormann,
Medical School

Geri Konigsberg,
UT Harris County Psychiatric Center

Resources

Chapter (pdf)

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