Group Works to End Health Care Disparities
          (An article published in the Daily Local News, April 6, 2004
          Betsy Gilliland, Staff Writer)
 
Access to health care or medical insurance is all too difficult for many minority residents in Chester County.
 
The Maternal and Child Health Consortium of Chester County has made significant progress in its efforts to reduce these disparities in the past 10 years, said Pamela Bryer, MCHC executive director. However, she said National Public Health week, which runs from April 5 to April 11, is an opportune time to "get the word out" about its services.
 
Bryer said repercussions of the lack of services are not confined to the affected racial and ethnic groups.
 
"Sometimes minority residents go without primary care and end up getting very, very ill," she said. "Then they end up in the emergency room at the hospital, and then we all bear that cost."
 
The results of a countywide needs assessment, released last year, indicated that health insurance and medical coverage topped the list of community concerns for county residents.
 
Nearly "one in every four respondents in the county was concerned about medical coverage and health insurance," said Bryer.
 
When the survey results were broken down into racial or ethnic groups, 19 percent of Caucasians said health care was a major concern. Among other ethnic groups, 28.6 percent of blacks and 36.2 percent of Hispanics identified the lack of health insurance and medical coverage as a primary concern.
 
"Latino children in the county and nationally are often the most eligible," said Bryer. "But because of language or culture, their parents don’t know they’re eligible."
 
MCHC has three primary initiatives to increase access to care for Chester County families.
 
The agency works with more than 800 families a year in its Healthy Start program. This program provides early prenatal care to pregnant women to reduce infant mortality and low birth weights. MCHC has enrolled more than 2,500 women in the program in the last 10 years.
 
Bryer said more than 94 percent of Healthy Start infants are born at a healthy birth weight.
 
"Only 5 percent of African American moms have low birth weight babies," she said.
 
Countywide, she said, 11.3 percent of infants are born at low birth weights.
 
MCHC also coordinates a countywide initiative to educate minorities about available health care options and to enroll them in these programs that include CHIP and Medicaid.
 
A family of four with children under age 19 can earn up to $37,704 annually to qualify for free health insurance for their children under CHIP, said Bryer. A family of four with children under age 19 can make up to $44,304 to be eligible for low-cost CHIP insurance, she said.
 
MCHC also has a Latino health initiative that offers Spanish medical interpretation, bilingual health education materials and bilingual parenting and prenatal classes.
 
Since 1999, said Bryer, MCHC has provided bilingual and bicultural training to more than 70 medical employees.
 
"Language is a big divider for a number of people (in) getting health care," said Bryer.
 
This year MCHC will continue its prenatal and health insurance services to women and children, as well as its bilingual and bicultural programs, Bryer said.
 
She also said the agency will step up its advocacy efforts.
 
"We’re working with policy makers, legislators and managed care organizations to develop long-term systems change," said Bryer. "It’s one thing to work with one woman, one family, at a time."
 
For more information about the MCHC programs, call 610-344-5370, ext. 104.