Faith and culture in health care: Using collaborative relationships to address critical concerns -- A Roundtable Discussion

ASU College of Nursing & Healthcare Innovation has a nurse managed health center, Breaking the Cycle Community Health Care (BTC), which has provided outreach health care to immigrant populations in schools, churches and homeless shelters since 1991. Nearly 90% of the clients served at BTC are monolingual in Spanish. The health center also serves as a clinical site for ASU registered nurse and nurse practitioner students.  Three bilingual staff facilitate communication between the patients and the nurse practitioners and students. In 2001 ASU College of Nursing & Healthcare Innovation received a contract as a Title X delegate agency through the Arizona Family Planning Council to provide reproductive health services and referrals to other safety net providers for healthcare that is outside of the clinic’s scope of service for underserved populations in Central Phoenix.  A partnership was developed between the college and Grace Evangelical Lutheran Church of Phoenix (GLC) to provide those services on the GLC campus. The individuals who receive care include women from Latin America and Somalia. The partnership of church, state and academia puts into practice the shared values that caring for the health of others expresses responsibility for a just society and builds healthy communities. 
            Delivering health services on a church campus initiates a trusting relationship before a client steps through the door as churches are known as safe places to turn for help.  The partnership links BTC with other Lutheran congregations in Phoenix and throughout the state so that information regarding the benefits of outreach health care to immigrant populations is disseminated well beyond the GLC congregation.  GLC is more than a landlord to our project; groups hold fund raising events to support our services and our activities are recognized during regular services throughout the year.  Our nursing students experience our collective efforts to promote health and ensure care for the vulnerable, actions they can replicate and carry to their future practices.
            Our experience illustrates how partnerships can be cultivated, based on shared values that are beneficial to the missions of academia, government and faith based organizations.