LOUISIANA STATE UNIVERSITY HEALTH SCIENCES CENTER
SCHOOL OF PUBLIC HEALTH

COMMUNITY OUTREACH SERVICES TO REDUCE DISPARITIES

A key component of the formal mission of the LSU Health Sciences Center School of Public Health (SPH) has as its mission “…diminishing health disparities among underserved and rural populations…”  Numerous programs in the LSU SPH have been established toward that end and several examples of these efforts follow.

The Cancer Control Program has three funded statewide initiatives directed toward the underserved.  The Louisiana Cancer Information Service (CIS) is part of the Mid-South Cancer Information Services funded by the National Cancer Institute and provides cancer resources, data and information to underserved populations and non-profit groups.  The Louisiana Breast and Cervical Health Program, funded by and part of the National Breast and Cervical Cancer Early Detection Program of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, provides access to lifesaving services for early detection of the two cancers to low-income, uninsured and underserved women in Louisiana.  The LSU SPH Louisiana Cancer Control Partnership is also funded by the CDC and is a coalition dedicated to reducing cancer disparities by providing comprehensive, integrated, and coordinated approaches to the continuum of cancer control service delivery in the state.

The LSUSPH Informatics and Telemedicine Program provides access to underserved patients who might not otherwise be reached in a timely fashion.  This program impacts the quality and timeliness of care for patients seen in the State public hospital system, the Juvenile Justice Program providing care to institutionalized juveniles, and community clinics serving the under/uninsured in the New Orleans metropolitan area.  In addition the statewide telemedicine network enables delivery of clinical and educational content to patients and healthcare professionals at multiple state agencies and in rural locations.

The aforementioned Juvenile Justice program in the LSU SPH provides a spectrum of medical, dental, and mental health care services to youth in the state’s secure juvenile correctional facilities.  It evolved as a multidisciplinary approach to ensure that incarcerated youth are appropriately evaluated and cared for and to ensure that the staff members working in these facilities are appropriately trained to deal with these adolescents, the majority of which come from families in need.

Two programs related to HIV/AIDS are funded in the LSU SPH.  The HRSA funded Delta Region AIDS Education and Training Center is one of 11 regional centers that conduct clinical HIV education and training programs for health care providers in Louisiana, Arkansas and Mississippi.  The majority of the patient population served by these health care providers is underserved and minorities throughout the state.  This program seeks to enhance provider access to information to the current state of the art treatment and management services.  The HIV/AIDS Program (HAP) is a collaborative program of the LSU SPH and the Louisiana Office of Public Health.  HAP’s mission is to prevent transmission of HIV/AIDS and to ensure the availability of quality medical and social services for infected and affected individuals and to help eliminate disparities in care.