Poster Presentations (Group I)

Our poster will describe the working relationship between the Somali Community Services of Seattle and Harborview Medical Center, which has been built over the last decade.   
This collaboration has resulted in an effective route for communicating immediate and long-term community concerns in both directions.  Examples include  

• Increased options for exercise for Somali women through a culturally sensitive, women-only swim program now being run by the parks department.
• Culturally sensitive policies and procedures for caring for a body that has been brought to the medical examiner’ s office.
• Effective communication about the hazards of carbon monoxide poisoning following a windstorm that had families burning charcoal indoors.
• An effort to broker the establishment of a massage clinic at Somali Community Services.
• Information about the history, culture, health beliefs of the Somalis living in the Seattle area has been gathered by and posted on the Ethnomed website: www.ethnomed.org.

Challenges included each partner learning about the realities of the resources available at Harborview and the Somali Community Services. 
Strong working relationships have been established through consistent long-term participation by leaders of Somali Community Services in the Harborview Community Advisory Board and by the accessibility and consistency of the staff of Harborview’s primary care clinics, Community House Calls and Ethnomed.