SUCCESS FOR HEALTH

The 2009 United Cambodian Families (UCF) Success for Health (SFH) program was funded through the Sierra Health Foundation with additional funding from Health Plan of San Joaquin. SFH has been part of a longer-term effort on the part of UCF to positively impact the poor overall quality of life of the San Joaquin County Cambodian Community.

Services provided through Success for Health included:
• Health insurance screening and application assistance
• Enrollment maintenance and renewal assistance
• Health care information and referral
• Nutrition, fitness, and dietary health workshops
• Health access support including translation services and resolution of health access and quality of care issues raised by Cambodian patients
• Information and referral services to address social challenges that serve as barriers to health and health access.

Achievements:
The healthiness of food preparation, food consumption, and fitness behaviors improved following participation in our nutrition and fitness workshops. Following workshop participation, average scores increased on test questions  measuring the healthiness of dietary and fitness behaviors. Differences in mean score were statistically significant. See the table below:

Our Case Management Program addressed health barriers for 50 low-income families.

Barriers that UCF staffs were able to address included:

• Low income as an obstacle to nutrition
• Health condition affecting capacity or will to seek health access/treatment
• Immigration Status
• Unfamiliarity with health coverage options
• Language barrier
• Incapable of completing application for health and/or social services
• Treatment not covered by insurance/need help finding alternatives
• Lack of trust in health or social service providers
• Legal issues are a barrier to health coverage
• Lacks of understanding of health risks