Kentucky and Tennessee Coalitions Focus on Improving Local Hispanics’ Access to Care

Coalitions in rural Kentucky and Tennessee are working to improve health care access for area Hispanics by assessing the region's health resources, the AP/Lexington Herald-Leader reports. The coalitions -- part of a four-year program run through the University of Kentucky, the University of Tennessee and Kentucky State University and partly funded by a Department of Agriculture grant --will provide Spanish- and English-language classes. The program also will "determine on a local basis what changes need to be made to improve access for Hispanics and try to spur those changes along," according to project facilitator Dr. Robert McKnight of the University of Kentucky College of Medicine and School of Public Health. The coalitions include medical professionals, social-service workers and agricultural extension staff members and are based in Kentucky's Shelby County and Tennessee's Montgomery County. Jan Chamness, program director at the Montgomery County Health Department, said the Montgomery County coalition is attempting to create a Hispanic resource center and provide regular health screening programs for Hispanics. In Shelby County, several health care professionals who are coalition members are being sent to Mexico for a Spanish immersion program (Garay, AP/Lexington Herald-Leader, 7/17).