Session 4:  Understanding the Home Base Agency

in the Community

Purpose of Session 4:

To understand the role of the home base agency in the larger community.

Objectives for Session 4:

  • Identify one Healthy People 2010 objective that relates to a major health issue/disease addressed by the home base agency.
  • Identify other health and service agencies that the home base agency collaborates. 
  • Explain how the home base agency interacts with physicians in the community.
  • Identify barriers to collaboration with other medical and service agencies.
  • Identify other agencies that compete with the home base agency. 
  • Assess the consequences of this competition for the population being served.
  • Discuss opportunities for collaboration between your home base agency and other community resources.

Community Experience

May 5 to 15, 2008

Community Experience Activities (May 5 to 15):

Students will:

  • Carry out the plan discussed with Rootstown based faculty and community faculty to visit/interview other agencies. Students will have made prior arrangements to either visit and/or interview agencies or to meet at home base agency on this day.

Community faculty will:

  • Assist students in carrying out plan as appropriate. If you have made arrangements to meet with students on this day, then you may discuss any pertinent issues.

Rootstown Session – May 20

Rootstown Session Activities (May 20, 1:00-3:00pm):

  • Provide feedback on Session 3 paper.

Each group will present the following points in a group presentation:

  • Discuss agency visits and interviews on what was learned and what was surprising.
  • Discuss potential for additional community networking and outreach for the home base agency.
  • Discuss the overall first year AHEC/E experience.
  • Discuss ideas for potential project focus in Year 2.

Student Assignment for Session 4:

(To be submitted electronically to Rootstown-based faculty and community preceptor on May 30 by noon)

  • Paper with answers to the following questions.
  • Please use the following paper format guidelines: Written answers to the questions for each session below are to be submitted as a group paper by the deadline. The paper will contain each session’s answer in a cumulative document. The final paper will contain the answers to all three sessions. You are expected to use appropriate headings for sections and references. Papers should be 12 point font Arial with 1-inch margins, single spaced, and be 3-5 pages (as appropriate to cover all content areas). Papers should be submitted to your Rootstown-based faculty member electronically by the stated due date. Please summarize information in a table, if you are able. You must document your sources using the Journal of American Medical Association (JAMA) format (see http://jama.ama-assn.org/ifora_current.dtl for guidelines). This third paper should include answers to these questions in addition to the work that you did on the first and second papers (with your revisions suggested by your faculty). This final paper will be the compilation of all three sessions.
  1. Healthy People 2010
    1. Identify one major health issue that concerns the agency’s clients.
    2. What does Healthy People 2010 say about this health issue/disease(s) addressed by your home base agency? 
    3. Does your agency participate in any (local or state) community health planning/assessment efforts?
  2. Interaction with the health care community
    1. With what health agencies do they collaborate (e.g. hospitals, clinics, etc.) and what is the nature of the collaboration? How does the collaboration happen?
    2. How does the home base agency interact with the physicians in your community?
  3. Other agencies in the community
    1. With what other agencies and/or local initiatives does your home base agency collaborate? What is the nature of the collaboration? How does this happen? 
    2. What are the benefits of the collaboration(s)?
    3. Are there barriers that prevent collaboration?  If so, what are they?
    4. With what other agencies does your home base agency compete, and with what consequences or impact for the population(s) served and the community at large?
  4. Community assets
    1. Recall the agencies/organizations that you identified during the scavenger hunt.
    2. What opportunities exist for collaboration between your home base agency and any of these community resources?