PRCHN seminar: “Chronic Disease Self-Management Workshop Referrals: Implementation, Evaluation and Lessons Learned”

Chronic disease accounts for nearly 75 percent of dollars spent on health care. Many models for promoting chronic disease self-management exist, including the Stanford evidence-based self-management workshops. At the next Prevention Research Center for Healthy Neighborhoods (PRCHN) seminar, a panel will discuss the implementation of and lessons learned from a collaborative project to implement chronic disease self-management workshops in low-resource neighborhoods. The panel will be composed of speakers from the Better Health Partnership, Fairhill Partners, the Cuyahoga County Board of Health and PRCHN. This seminar, titled “Chronic Disease Self-Management Workshop Referrals: Implementation, Evaluation and Lessons Learned,” will be held Wednesday, April 11, from noon to 1:15 p.m. in the BioEnterprise Building’s ground-floor conference room.

About the presentation

The Chronic Disease Self Management workshop and referral project is a Centers for Disease Control-funded Racial and Ethnic Approaches to Community Health (REACH) grant. The primary goal of the project was to introduce and incorporate chronic disease self-management workshops in seven neighborhoods within Cleveland and East Cleveland where there is a heavy burden of chronic disease and, heretofore, low exposure to this free, lay-led self-management workshop program. This presentation will focus on the three methods used to bring these workshops into the community:

• Referrals from clinics;
• Training lay leaders; and
• Hosting workshops in the community or community clinic setting.

Speakers also will address some of the lessons learned along the way.

About the panelists

Jonathan Lever is project manager at Better Health Partnership. He has helped implement the evidence-based best practice for hypertension management in the REACH grant from the Centers for Disease Control. He is experienced in analyses of clinical and operational data, as well as hospital readmissions, and has devoted much of his career to understanding alternative care delivery models for patients with high rates of health care utilization. Samantha Smith is a data analyst in epidemiology, surveillance and informatics at the Cuyahoga County Board of Health. She supports research and evaluation efforts for projects conducted as part of the board's Centers for Disease Control-funded REACH program. Wanda Ali-Matlock is a senior consultant for Better Health Partnership, assisting primary-care member practices with patient-centered practice transformation. She also plays a key role in several community-based initiatives including Health Improvement Partnership-Cuyahoga’s Centers for Disease Control REACH grant initiative. Ali-Matlock is certified as a patient-centered medical home content expert, is a certified case manager and a fellow in The American Academy of Case Management, where she serves as a course writer and instructor. Stephanie FallCreek has served as president/CEO of Fairhill Partners since July 1992. FallCreek is best known for her work in health promotion and organizational development, as well as for advocacy in public policy on successful aging. FallCreek is a T-Trainer and a master trainer for multiple Stanford-developed self-management programs, licensed by the Self-Management Resource Center, and is a master trainer for Matter of Balance. At Fairhill, she has been involved in developing and delivering evidence-based, licensed self-management programs since 2006. Delores Collins is the founder and executive director of A Vision of Change Inc., which offers prevention, intervention and academic services. She is an alumna of Neighborhood Leadership Institute's Neighborhood Leadership Cleveland Program and a community health ambassador for the Glenville neighborhood. She is a master trainer through the Stanford University Chronic Disease Self-Management Program, and is a certified community health worker.