Community Coordination
Community
Coordination. Community Coordination involves conducting and
coordinating UTHSC outreach through the improvement of community
relations and public education. The UT Outreach Center has built a
collaborative network of community-based agencies, programs and civic
groups who are united by a shared vision of reducing health disparities for
underserved populations and improving quality of life for minority groups.
These partners each bring different strengths and resources to the effort
as a whole. These partners outside of the UT system include:
·
The African American Pastors Consortium
·
The Bluff City Medical Society
·
The Church Health Center
·
The West Tennessee Area Health Education Center
·
The Tennessee Primary Care Association
·
The Tennessee Department of Health (rural clinics)
·
The Tennessee Department of Children’s Services
·
The Shelby County Department of Health (urban)
·
The Tennessee Department of Family Services
·
The Health Loop Clinics
·
The Memphis Rotary Foundation
The Center offers basic
science seminar speakers to talk to students at local high schools and
colleges, as well as hosts students from local high schools in Memphis to
workshops designed to expose these students to the health field and the
fundamentals of laboratory work (microscopy, research methodologies, etc).
In addition, the Outreach Center has sponsored Americorps volunteers to
advance the community outreach activities throughout the greater Memphis
area, especially in the most disadvantaged neighborhoods. The Outreach
Center has installed three computer labs, staffed by Americorps volunteers,
at Booker T Washington High School, Bluff City Community College and the
First Baptist Church on Lauderdale to tutor students in math and
science. During the months of December 2004 and January
2005, the Outreach Center participated in the Freedom Calls
program. This program gave the soldiers in Iraq the opportunity to speak
with their families via the University’s Telehealth video conferencing
system. The Outreach Center provided these services at sites in Tennessee,
Mississippi, Arkansas and Alabama.
Productivity and
efficiency of this section of the Outreach Center would be greatly improved
by a centralization of projects as well as a lessening of dependency on
volunteer staff. This would also allow the Outreach Center to better
monitor outcomes for distribution to the community.
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