Our TeamCommunities & Health Professionals Together
Communities & Health Professionals Together (CHPT) is a unique partnership between three UC Davis Residency Programs - Family Medicine, Internal Medicine and Pediatrics - and seven grassroots, community based organizations, that draws upon the assets of communities and physicians-in-training to improve health and support communities in making positive changes. Employing the principles of Asset-Based Community Development, CHPT teaches resident physicians how to identify community assets and resources, build partnerships with community organizations, and leverage these partnerships to enhance the capacity of the community to improve local health.
Communities & Health Professionals Together (CHPT) strives to give every individual a healthy present and future by teaching physicians, both in training and in practice, how to make a difference through active community partnerships."
In order to achieve this, the partners set forth four project-wide goals:
- Form strong and reciprocal relationships between resident physicians and their partner communities;
- Increase involvement of community physicians in partner communities and in CHPT;
- Create and present formal curricula and education opportunities to residents, faculty and the community
Using a three-pronged approach to teaching resident physicians about community and community health ensures that there is something for everyone. Residents learn through hands-on, interactive meetings, events and experiences right in their assigned communities; they are supplied reading materials and reflection tools to gain insights and knowledge about their experiences; and they are provided with didactic education where community members and respected professionals speak together about topics from Asset-Based Community Development to informing parents on how to choose quality childcare.
Finally, Residents work with their community partners to identify a health issue of interest; and use local community assets to plan, implement and evaluate a project that addresses the issue.
Family Medicine Partners
Cordova Community Collaborative is a group in the Rancho Cordova community of eastern Sacramento County. CCC believes "all children should grow up in a family and community that provides for their health and well being. We are committed to strengthening families and linking them to community resources that enhance self-reliance and promote community involvement."
Harmony Health Family Resource Center assists families in the Linda community of Yuba County with referrals, in-home case management, counseling, parent workshops and support groups, women's support groups, youth groups and activities, and resource information.
River Delta Healthy Start serves the Courtland and Walnut Grove communities of rural south Sacramento county and offers support to rural and migrant farm worker families in the Sacramento River Delta area.
River Oak Family Resource Center provides families in the Oak Park community with free, voluntary family support and home visitation services.
Projects
Kids' Zone at Celebrate Oak Park! event (2009)
Residents: Amanjit Sekhon & Phuc Tran
Community Partner: Oak Park Neighborhood Association
Synopsis: "For our CHPT project we reorganized the Kids' Zone area of the annual "Celebrate Oak Park" community event to include physical activity, nutrition and safety learning stations in order to reach out to all Oak Park residents, particularly children and their families. We utilized a passport program that required each child to visit several activity stations and then at the completion of their passports the children received participation certificates and healthy snacks. The physical activity stations included jumping rope, shooting baskets, jumping jacks, pushups, sit-ups, hula hooping, and dancing, as well as a traditional Velcro wall, Sponge Bob jump house, 3-in-1 bounce house and rock climbing wall, which have been successful activities at past "Celebrate Oak Park" events. An important component of the Kids' Zone also included helmet safety education; we were able to distribute free helmets to children who needed them thanks to a generous donation from the UC Davis Trauma Prevention Program. We also had nutrition stations where we discussed the food pyramid, healthy eating, guidelines for physical activity and more."
Awards
Campus Compact Thomas Ehrlich Award for Service-Learning (2008)
Campus Compact is an organization of over 1,000 college and university presidents committed to fulfilling the public purposes of higher education by promoting service learning. Each year they choose to honor one faculty member's efforts to include service learning in their curriculum, and in 2008 they selected their first-ever medical training program - Communities & Health Professionals Together and Dr. Richard Pan - as the recipient of this prestigious award, the Thomas Ehrlich Award for Service Learning!
Community-Campus Partnerships for Health Annual Award (2005)
Community-Campus Partnerships for Health (CCPH) is a nonprofit organization that promotes health (broadly defined) through partnerships between communities and higher educational institutions. Founded in 1996, CCPH is a growing network of over 1,800 communities and campuses across North America and increasingly the world that are collaborating to promote health through service-learning, community-based participatory research, broad-based coalitions and other partnership strategies.
Community & Health Professionals Together is a proud recipient of the 2005 CCPH National Award. This prestigious award honored the sincere and reciprocal partnerships developed and maintained between the UC Davis Health System and community partners in Sacramento and Yuba counties. For more information on the award, visit the CCPH website.