Welcome to DCMH's Cultural Collaboration Program

Delaware County Memorial Hospital (DCMH) received a SHARE Award in 1999 through SmithKline Beecham, administered by the University of Pennsylvania Institute on Aging, to implement cultural diversity education and conduct community outreach to meet the health care needs of the Asian elderly population in the Upper Darby area of Delaware County. Although the funding for this program has ended, it has merged with Cultural Connections Collaborative, with the focus now on the health care needs of the immigrant and refugee populations in the area.

This program initiative includes cultural diversity education and training in every hospital department, multilingual signage and directories, interpreters with hours in specialists' practices, and affirmative action in hiring professional positions. Outreach activities include:

•   Collaborative efforts with Upper Darby High School for an intergenerational "English as a Second Language" program.

•   A forum for the community's social service and law enforcement agencies, to acquaint the groups with the services and to educate them on the various ethnic groups new to the area.

•   Quarterly Community Inclusion Network meetings with representatives from the respective communities.

The Cultural Connections Collaborative program also provides competency training to high school principals, school nurses, social workers, counselors and secretarial staff in the Upper Darby School District to help them deal more effectively with health, mental health and social issues that hinder recently immigrated children's success in school and affect overall well being. In addition to designing and coordinating the training components, the program staff facilitates access to health care and health resources on a one-to-one basis, and organizes parent education workshops for families of the District's immigrant children. This is done with interpreters present to facilitate accurate communication. Translated printed educational materials are also produced for parents in multiple languages.

The schools targeted for the development of school-based teams to help newcomers succeed in an academic setting include:

•   Beverly Hills Middle School

•   Bywood Elementary School

•   Highland Park Elementary School

•   Stonehurst Elementary School

•   Upper Darby High School

Leadership in these outreach initiatives uniquely positions DCMH in a role that extends beyond health care, and one that will positively affect the well being of families.

For more information, please call 610-284-8373.

Hospital Services Offered (translated in 6 Asian languages):

Chinese 

Hindi  

Korean

Laotian

Punjabi (Hindi Script)

Vietnamese