Outreach and Engagement Awards
Ohio State University Nominated Programs
In 2008, Ohio State had a pool of 34 outstanding programs from which to choose its nominees for the regional Outreach Scholarship W.K. Kellogg Foundation Engagement Award and the C. Peter Magrath University/Community Engagement Award. The scope and quality of these programs represent the broad spectrum of Ohio State’s partnerships with communities and industry.
Health, Environment, and Safety
The OHIO Project
Partner for Promotion
African American Male Wellness Walk
Emerald Ash Borer Research and Outreach
Model Preschool Vision Screening Program
Campaign to Reduce Colon Cancer
Optometry Outreach Clinic
Natural Products Development
Occupational Medicine Refugee Program
Helping Older Disabled Adults Stay Independent
Investigating Bone Density among Impoverished Central Ohio Hispanic Women
Asian and Latino Free Clinics
Nursing Home and Home-Bound Eye Care
School-Based Screening to Identify Type 2 Diabetes Associated Metabolic Change
Health Care Education for Limited English Proficiency (LEP) Patients
Youth Violence Prevention
Personal Health Assessment
Ohio Suicide Prevention Foundation
Optometry Outreach Clinic at Faith Mission
Ohio State Partner: College of Optometry
Community Partners: Faith Mission, Ohio Optometric Foundation, Select Optical
The Ohio State University College of Optometry has teamed with Faith Mission shelter for the last 7 years to meet the vision needs of the homeless in downtown Columbus. The homeless population is at a significantly higher risk of sight-threatening vision impairment from ocular disease and ocular side effects of systemic disease. The efforts of outreach partners at the OSU College of Optometry, Select Optical, and the Ohio Optometric Foundation provide the much needed access to care for this underprivileged population. Over 1,000 patients are seen annually for comprehensive eye examinations as well as 2,000 more for glasses dispensing and eyeglass repair. The multiple benefits of this program are as follows:
- The patients have a chance for earlier diagnosis of sight-threatening disease. Additionally, the findings of the ocular health exam often signify a previously undetected medical problem that also needs to be addressed. When diseases are detected, the challenge then becomes to educate these patients on the importance of following the treatment prescribed and to return for follow-up.
- Many patients simply need an eyeglass correction to be able to have functional vision. Faith Mission patients get a chance at maximizing their vision through the partnership with Select Optical in Worthington, which donates frames and fabricates the prescription lenses for those in need. These glasses can enable a patient to fill out job applications, secure employment and complete job tasks, obtain a driver’s license, or do the reading required in a drug and alcohol treatment center.
- The senior optometry externs gain specialized clinical experience in the effects of poor general health, domestic abuse, head trauma, and drug abuse on the eyes, under the guidance of a faculty attending.
This program also educated the next generation of optometrists on the value of volunteerism and interacting with other health care professionals. Having students exposed to the extra challenges of getting someone the health care they need when there is no insurance or other financial resources makes them think outside normal channels. Most externs leave this experience vowing to devote some of their future practice time to serve those less fortunate. The success of this program has resulted in many other community organizations using Faith Mission for access to eye care services for their clientele. This includes other homeless shelters, referrals from free clinics such as Physicians Free Clinic and Mt. Carmel Outreach Clinics, and from social service agencies in the city such as Columbus Area, Senior Options, Maryhaven, and Community Connection. Dr. Joan Nerderman has been running this site for the last 6 years. In addition to her dedication as a caregiver and educator, she has presented her clinical experiences on drug abuse, ocular trauma, and systemic disease to other eye care professionals at an optometric education conference. Through these efforts, we hope to highlight our commitment to this benevolent care program to underserved people in the community and hope to enlist the help of other professionals to help this at-risk population.
Natural Products Development
Ohio State Partners: Entomology, College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences
Community Partner: MTD
Links: ATECH website
This project, relationship, and business success was driven by ATECH, the new commercialization program of the College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences. MTD is a world leader in the manufacturing and distribution of garden implements and machinery. Its brands include Cub Cadet, Bolens, Troy-Bilt, Yard-Man, White, GardenWay, and Yard Machines. The company was seeking to make a difference in the weed, insect, and nutritional products that were typically “chemical” based by developing and introducing its own new product line. The company has engaged CFAES and Dr. Grewal’s center in the research needed to prove the commercial viability of products based upon nematodes, pelletized compost, and more. The first product to make its way to the consumer is known as Nature’s Touch Natural and Organic Fertilizer. It is currently being sold in WalMart stores. The ultimate end is that the products developed will make it possible to use natural processes to improve plant, lawn, and garden health. The products will be significantly less invasive, noxious, and toxic to people, pets, plants, and the planet.
Occupational Medicine Refugee Program
Ohio State Partners: College of Medicine, Occupational Medicine; OSU Primary Care Network; Customer Service Interpretation Services
Community Partners: Ohio Department of Job and Family Services, Community Refugee and Immigration Services (CRIS), Us Together, Nationwide Children's Hospital
The OSU Occupational Medicine Refugee Program started in 2006 in collaboration with the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services, Community Refugee and Immigration Services (CRIS), Us Together, and Nationwide Children’s Hospital to provide Somali and Russian refugees screenings, physicals, and follow-up care through the OSU Primary Care Network. The OSU Occupational West team, made up of the clinic’s medical director, office manager, and patient services specialist, worked with the OSU Medical Center’s Chief Executive Officer to establish the program. These refugees rarely speak English, have not yet accessed the U.S. health care system, and are far away from anything familiar to them. Through the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services they are, however, entitled and encouraged to have a medical physical exam and follow-up visits. The physical, usually the first medical encounter with the health care system, consists of three planned visits. The first and second visits involve the actual health screening by a trained staff member and obtaining answers to health-related questions, vitals, a vision screen completed with the help of an interpreter, blood tests and administering vital immunizations that most Americans usually receive before entering school. The main concern to address in these two visits is identifying communicable diseases. The third visit is reserved for the physician to review with the patient lab results and x-rays, if applicable, and to address vital health problems identified in the previous two visits. Follow-up visits are then arranged within the OSU Primary Care Network. A dedicated OSU Occupational Medicine West staff member titled the “Navigator” arranges interpretation services involving many different languages and dialects, and also arranges transportation for these patients if needed. The “Navigator” was himself in the same position as his patients, a refugee who came to the United States on his own, worked for years, and sent money overseas to ensure that his family would be able to escape the hardship they faced in their own country. Since its beginning in 2006, the Occupational Medicine Refugee Program has served approximately 500 refugees. The program is funded by a grant through the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services.
Helping Older Disabled Adults Stay Independent
Ohio State Partner: College of Social Work
Community Partner: Heritage Day Health Centers
The older adult population is expected to grow by 15% from 35 million in 2000 to 40 million by 2010. Many of these older adults need community-based supports to continue living in their own homes. Staying at home respects the older person’s autonomy and independence and is less expensive than institutional care. Adult day care programs are an important provider of long-term care that allows individuals at risk of nursing home placement to maintain community-based living. Through a grant from the John A. Hartford Foundation administered through the Gerontological Society of America, the OSU College of Social Work has partnered with Heritage Day Health Centers (HDHC) to increase our understanding of the impact adult day care has on its participants’ well-being. HDHC opened one the of first adult day centers in Central Ohio in the mid-1970s. Today, HDHC has grown to operate the multiple programs at four different locations serving hundreds of older adults and caregivers every day. Adult day programs are increasingly becoming important providers of long-term care in the U.S. Though varying tremendously in scope, most adult day programs provide nutritional, health, social, and recreational services for older adults during daytime hours. The heterogeneity of programs, participants, and funding sources creates challenges in defining and measuring participant outcomes of adult day services. There appear to be two main domains of influence that adult day programs can have on participants: physical health functioning and psychosocial well-being. The study of the potential psychosocial benefits of adult day services to participants has been neglected. The purpose of the partnership is to develop and test a new conceptual model for examining the participant outcomes in adult day services programs, taking into consideration the variability in participant needs and program design and delivery. A new model is needed in order to secure current and future funding for community-based services for older adults. The model was developed using an interdisciplinary team of staff with Heritage Day and older adult participants. Faculty, graduate research assistants, and graduate field interns are involved in testing the efficacy of the model. Qualitative findings from this partnership have already been shared with other programs in the state through the Ohio Association of Adult Day Services. The National Association of Adult Day Services has asked the partners to act as consultants as national outcomes standards are developed. Community practitioners are being asked to demonstrate participant outcome data without the information and knowledge to do so. This partnership has enabled the development of meaningful participant outcome measures through a community participatory process of exchange and involvement.
Investigating Bone Density and Consumption of Calcium among Impoverished Central Ohio Hispanic Women
Ohio State Partners: School of Allied Medical Professions, Department of Internal Medicine, College of Medicine; College of Nursing
Community Partners: volunteers from the Hispanic community
Hispanic women have a higher rate of poverty than white women, as 32% of Hispanic females have an annual income for a family of four of less than $20,650. With one-third of Hispanic women living on the edge of poverty, the result is a disparity in dietary and health care options. Census statistics indicate that Columbus’s Hispanic population has increased significantly with this migration representing 3.55% of the total population of the city. Previous formative data indicate a low level of knowledge about osteoporosis risk factors and preventive care among Hispanic women in central Ohio. Immigrant Hispanic women often lack the resources to maintain a healthy lifestyle and as a result, certain ecological factors constitute a heightened risk for osteoporosis. This project is working to determine the level of risk for osteoporosis among a group of impoverished Hispanic women and to determine if this disease is exacerbated by poverty and/or acculturation. These theoretical environments have been translated into discrete and measurable variables for this research. This formative data collection is attempting to identify singular and/or synergistic factors that affect impoverished Hispanic women’s risk for osteoporosis. The project has the following specific aims: (1) use biomarkers to measure the level of bone remodeling, which could act as on their physical environment and influence their risk for osteoporosis; (2) determine the level of functional health literacy, which could act on their social environment and influence their risk for osteoporosis; and (3) record the level of calcium consumption, which could act on their intrapersonal environment and their risk for osteoporosis. Therefore, the long-term goal is to determine if ecological factors acting alone or in concert, explain impoverished Hispanic women’s incidence of osteoporosis. This research is producing new information about the environmental factors that are contributing to the prevalence of osteoporosis in this group of Hispanic women. The research team is composed of the medical director of Clinica Latina, two assistant professors from the School of Allied Medical Professions, and a graduate student from the College of Nursing. The Department of Internal Medicine and the School of Allied Medical Professions have come together to conduct this important research. This team works with a group of volunteers who provide free health care to uninsured Hispanic patients twice a month. The Rardin Family Practice clinic provides space for the Clinica Latina to hold its clinic and a host of volunteers from OSU and the Hispanic community makes this endeavor possible. We believe that staging collaborative research within this volunteer clinic will have significant impact for the Hispanic community. Health behavioral change and promotional activities can be designed that are culturally sensitive as a result of this work and will have a greater impact on the health of younger Hispanic women as a result of this work. The translational component of this research is to affect changes in younger Hispanic women prior to menopause. Waiting to address osteoporosis among older Hispanic women will only create a greater burden on an already constrained medical system.
Asian and Latino Free Clinics (Ohio State University Medical Center Asian Health Initiative and La Clinica Latina)
Ohio State Partner: Community Development, College of Medicine, College of Nursing
Community Partners: Asian Community Services, Asian American Council, Family Practice Foundation, Latino Health Network, Internal Medicine
Links: La Clinica Latina article
The Asian Health Initiative started in June 1997 as a collaboration of OSU Medical Center, Family Practice Foundation, Asian American Community Services, Asian American Council, and Southeast Asian Ministries. The mission of the program was to improve the health status of medically underserved Asian populations in central Ohio. The program also provided service-learning opportunities for students. A community advisory group was formed to oversee clinical operations, scheduling appointments, recruiting volunteers, providing transportation and interpretation services. The community advisory group is composed of individuals from community-based agencies and public health organizations and community members. The volunteer medical director provided a learning environment for medical students and students from other colleges on campus. The students have the opportunity to apply classroom knowledge in an actual patient care setting. The partnerships provide free medical services to underserved Asian populations and a point of entry into the health care delivery system. The free medical care is provided three times a month in space provide by OSU Family Medicine. The OSU Medical Center provides funding for the entire laboratory services for the clinic, and staff from Asian American Community Services (AACS) schedule the appointments for patients. AACS also provides an interpreter and transportation services for the patients. Since its inception the Asian Health Initiative has served more than 1,000 patients. These patients mostly would have received medical care in some local emergency department; because of this initiative the care is more cost effective, efficient, and culturally competent. This community and campus partnership model was also used to establish La Clinica Latina in May 2001. The clinic mission is providing health care to underserved Latino/Hispanic populations and culturally and linguistically appropriate services. A community advisory group and Latino Health Network was established and students are an integral part of the program. The partnership provides free medical services three times a month; most of the volunteers speak Spanish. The medical director provides a learning environment for the students. The OSU Medical Center provides funding for the laboratory services and Family Medicine provides the space free. The Latino Health Network is a community-based organization that provides scheduling for the patients and support in operating the clinic. The clinic has served more than 3,000 patients since opening its doors. Asian Health Initiative and La Clinica Latina clinics operate from 4pm to 9pm, when the space is usually not being used by Family Medicine. Both clinics are identified as one of several local free clinics and provide services to growing number of people needing health care. The clinics are a unique model that provides a bridge in the relationship between campus, residents, and community-based organizations. at the same time, this clinic model provides a great service-learning opportunity for students and a valuable service to the community.
2008 O&E Awards: Health, Environment, and Safety page 1
2008 O&E Awards: Health, Environment, and Safety page 3
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