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Topics:
Health
Central
Medical Center
Redefining the Public Mission of Inner-City Health Institutions
In what was
one of the last remaining African-American hospitals in the country,
this St. Louis acute care facility became a site for public problem
solving in partnership with other community groups beginning in
1991. Some 30 organizations and programs came into the hospital,
from GED classes and women's groups to a joint chaplaincy-police
department project on violence. Volunteers, nurses, physicians,
and parents participated in the Saturday School program. This
"citizen politics" approach also involved local artists and ministers
in initiatives on art and healing. Story
Story:
Central Medical Center
Story
prepared by
Carmen Sirianni, editor-in-chief of CPN
The core
message from Central Medical Center is that acute care facilities
in inner city areas have important potential to become public
sites for citizen problem solving. Moreover, through this process
the institution can redefine its public mission and its relationship
to the community, and thus broaden our understanding of health
care.
Central
Medical Center, an acute care facility with 44% of patients on
Medicaid and 45% on Medicare, was one of the last dozen remaining
African-American hospitals in the country, and the largest employer
of blacks in the state of Missouri. In 1991 it went into receivership.
Barry Shermer, Judge in the Federal Bankruptcy Court in Missouri,
liked a proposal that Miaisha Mitchell had developed in concert
with North Star Health Care, a management corporation, for an
extensive new program of community outreach and involvement.
Mitchell
and her staff brought more than 30 organizations and programs
into the hospital: GED classes, block clubs, women's groups, African-American
history classes, Alcoholics Anonymous, AIDS groups, fraternal,
sororal, and church groups. The police department worked with
Central Medical to create a training program for community patrols
and a joint chaplaincy-police project on violence. A centerpiece
of the effort was a Saturday School program for youth that combined
civic education, modeled on the approach of Project Public Life
of the Center for Democracy and Citizenship at the Humphrey Institute,
with community education and problem-solving projects.
"We were
able to develop relationships with public housing groups for on-site
alcohol and drug case management and counseling," Mitchell says.
"Citizen Politics training also involved local artists and ministers
in initiatives on art and healing.
"We found
that the more partnerships we developed, the greater the community
involvement with the hospital. Volunteers, physicians, nurses,
and parents participated in the Saturday School program. Children
learned to teach other children how to talk with their elders
about their ancestors and their family life, and about their health
histories. They created comic books that illustrated their own
history and culture and values in relation to health concerns
in the community, such as alcohol, drugs and AIDS."
Budgetary
pressures eventually forced the closing of Central Medical Center,
though Miaisha Mitchell has continued to bring Citizen Politics
and community problem solving approaches to health institutions,
as Chair of the Florida Commission on Minority Health, and as
catalyst in other minority health commissions around the country.
More Information
Miaisha
Mitchell, Chair
Florida Commission on Minority Health
Florida A&M University
Wailes St. #2-99178
Tallahassee, Florida 32307
Fax: 904-561-2918
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