How to Join ISCOPES

The Prenatal Resources Web team will assist in developing a Website for the DC Healthy Start Project (design, layout, and some content--no coding skills or knowledge is required). This interactive Website will assist residents in navigating through and accessing a variety of services and resources provided by the DC Healthy Start Project. In addition, the Website will publicize and highlight upcoming events, provide information on infant mortality and factors that contribute to infant mortality in the District of Columbia. Thus, students on the team are expected to learn about the different services and resources DC Healthy Start offers and also to interact with community members in order to identify the most effective ways to connect with District residents.

In addition to weekly blood pressure screenings, the community partners have expressed a need for the ISCOPES team to do a breast exam project again, involving speakers and a Mammovan visit with screenings.  Another potential project concerns conducting disaster planning and helping residents put together disaster kits. 

The 2008-9 EHS ISCOPES team build on the work of last year's team. It is anticipated that team members will 1) provide Academy students coaching towards higher education and health careers on individual and small group basis; 2) classroom presentations to Academy students-topics to be chosen by Academy students; 3) provide a Saturday GW health science campus activity.

The 2007-08 ISCOPES team asserts that the success of last year's activities offers a strong starting point for future collaborative efforts. Possibilities include mentoring and providing workshops on vital signs, anatomy and physiology, resume writing and interviewing techniques. The EHS students and instructor have been very receptive to ISCOPES participation within their program. The instructor at Eastern High School is confident that ISCOPES can further serve the high school and community in many different areas.

Members of the Grief and Loss Team will have an opportunity to build a relationship of trust and caring with hospice patients on an individual basis. Through this relationship, students will conduct recorded interviews to create a living story of their patients' lives as a legacy for their loved ones. Training in interview skills, hospice care, working with the dying and bereaved will be conducted by the professional staff of The Community Hospice and the team faculty. This program is sponsored by the National Story Keepers project.
 

The team members will have the opportunity to develop health presentations for residents of a DC homeless shelter/transitional home for men. Topics were identified by residents and students in the past year but should be updated with a resident’s survey to be done by the new ISCOPES team.

Bread for the City has several ideas on which to build from the 2007-2008 ISCOPES team's project. The previous teams provided the groundwork on health literacy with specific focus on medication compliance, as well as developed tools to assist low-literacy patients in understanding how to use medications correctly. The tools were pretested and approved by the clinic director. Future projects would couple medication compliance with BFTC's Fit For Fun (F4F) program to provide a holistic focus on patient health and education. Participants in the F4F program have the desire to improve their health, but lack both knowledge and motivation to be successful. The medication compliance learning tools can be utilized in conjunction with cooking/nutrition classes and exercise groups to teach participants how proper nutrition, regular exercise, and medication compliance work together to optimize health. The focus of the team can be centered upon educating participants and empowering them to keep each other accountable with their new lifestyle choices.

The La Clinica team has been, for several years, focusing on the problem of the needs of patients with limited English proficiency. These patients are unaware of their rights to free interpreter services and providers are unaware of the requirement to provide it. We have developed "I Speak" cards in multiple languages, provider information, and a website with downloadable information. The Joint Commission has adopted some of the federal guidelines for accreditation and we would like to explore their materials and find out the experience of organizations trying to comply. Last year we increased the focus to include patient rights and this year we expect to expand these areas of focus, as well as become more involved in health fairs offered by La Clinica for the immigrant community. Students on the team this year will have the opportunity to pilot the use of the Midego MPH program to complete some of our tasks.

Students should expect to spend overall 6-8 hours per week reading the curriculum, attending the meetings, and helping on the projects. This year there will be periodic health fairs with which we will be helping. However, it is up to the team and the community to determine how the team can be of the greatest use.

Students who speak Spanish or want to improve their Spanish will have an opportunity to practice at the health fairs. Multiple language skills will be helpful with the 'I Speak' cards. Students who do not speak another language are welcome as there are a number of activities in which no particular language skills are necessary. All will have an opportunity to learn about the immigrant community, espeically the Latino community, in DC.

The project will focus on patient adherence to the prescribed HIV/AIDS medications. The team can build on the 2007-08 team's work which includes: (1) novel ways of increasing patient adherence; (2) creating a survey to assess if this population is taking their medications, and if not, the reasons why they are not taking them; and (3) counseling/workshops to educate patients in the clinic. The plan for the 2008-09 team will be to hold focus groups with patients of the WWC (8-10 patients per group) using the questions developed. This project is seeking IRB approval for the focus groups so that the findings may be published.

(Spanish Speakers Preferred)  It is likely that this year's group will continue to build on the focus of the past two years, pharmacy health literacy among Mary's Center's primarily Latino patient population. At the end of last year an interactive "charla", or health education talk, on this subject was created and given at the clinic. Continuation of these talks, and perhaps creation of new ones on related or new topics is one option for a group project.

Another new issue at Mary's Center is the initiation of Electronic Medical Records. We are beginning this transition in September, so the team could develop a project to assist Mary's Center with this transition.
 

As always, there are endless possibilities for other projects related to child or maternal health.

Students will work as a consultative team to assist the community advisors in meeting their goals to improve programs targeting obesity prevention among elementary school children. It is hoped that the new 2008-09 ISCOPES Team Members will build upon past year activities at a local DC elementary school and collaborate with the community and academic advisors to complete the following: 1) collect, collate and provide elementary school staff with feedback on Body Mass Index levels, 2) revise and deliver at least one previous lesson plan focused on diet and exercise based upon experiences and recommendations from students and advisors following implementation in prior years, 3) develop and deliver at least one new lesson plan targeting students and parents, and 4) implement and evaluate those interventions in the late fall and spring semester. Students will work as a consultative team to assist the community advisors in meeting their goals to improve programs targeting obesity prevention among elementary school children.

This new ISCOPES team will develop, teach and evaluate 1 hour presentations on self-care, enhancing Wellness through health promotion/disease prevention topics. The presentations will be given to women participating in N Street Village programs, who are adults that are living in shelters or transitional housing. The women may or may not have primary care and many have addiction and mental health issues. Some possible topics: How do I wash my hands to prevent infection? What is high blood pressure? What is diabetes? How do I prepare for my Doctor visit? Why is it so hard to quit smoking?

The Health Information Partners ISCOPES team will teach 2 semesters of the pre-GED Science class to adult learners at the Academy of Hope at the end of the fall and spring semesters. Students will prepare and implement the curriculum, using health topics and the Internet to teach basic scientific concepts and behavior change. There will also be opportunities to assist computer classes at the Max Robinson Health Center of Whitman Walker Clinic to help client advocates educate others.

Students are needed to teach at the Academy of Hope on Wednesday mornings from 9am to 10:30am and at Max Robinson on Thursday mornings from 11am til noon. This is a wonderful opportunity for students who want a chance to develop curriculum development and teaching skills, as well as develop a consistent relationship with 10-20 motivated learners.

The Perinatal Mobile Health Unit DC Healthy Start team will assist with developing policies and procedures for the Department of Health Community Health Administration Healthy Start Project’s Maternity Outreach Mobile (MOM). The policies and procedures will include an Operation Manual that accurately reflects providing medical services and activities. In order to develop effective practices, it is important for students to gain an understanding of what does and does not work in this unique setting. Thus, students on the team are expected to visit MOM, as well as interact with community leaders and staff.