continued from coverFaith-based Organizations Mobilize Communities Around Health Issues
“Our families feel very strongly about making health care more affordable and accessible,” said Tom Amato, director of PACT. “This issue is uniting Latino, African American, Hmong, Filipino and Caucasian families in South Stockton.” An unemployment rate twice the state average contributes to high poverty and crime in the South Stockton community, where 95 percent of families who completed the PICO survey indicated that access to health care was a serious concern. TCWF provided a two-year, $100,000 grant to PACT to increase health care access for low-income South Stockton residents and empower community members to be active in the health care debate.
The PACT group successfully advocated to San Joaquin County to allocate an additional $2 million toward increased health care and developed a plan on how best to utilize funds. The funding is used to cover five health outreach workers who are linguistically and culturally reflective of Hmong, Latino, African-American and Filipino communities; three transportation vans to bring residents to health care facilities; and one mobile health unit that can bring services to the most isolated within the county, including area farmworkers. PACT has also secured funding from The California Endowment to hire a nurse who will provide health screenings, health education and disease prevention services in five churches in South Stockton. Orange County Congregation Community Organization The PICO California affiliate, Orange County Congregation Community Organization (OCCCO), knew it needed to develop a local health care campaign after discovering that 65 percent of people surveyed from 10 inner-city Orange County churches did not have health insurance. “We’ve discovered that many of our families are eligible for existing public health plans but are unaware of them, while other families may meet the poverty requirements for public health insurance plans, but can’t apply because of their undocumented immigrant status. We’ve discovered some private plans that can meet the needs of undocumented families,” said Corey Timpson, director of OCCCO.
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PACT staff and community residents developed possible solutions to the issues identified and
organized a series of large public meetings attended by 300 residents together with the San Joaquin County health director and county supervisors.
Fall 2001
| INSIDE: Faith-based Organizations Mobilize Communities Community health centers share personnel Peer-led teen pregnancy prevention |
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