The goal of our CLAS trainings is to create a health care system and workforce that are capable of delivering the highest quality care to every patient regardless of race, ethnicity, culture, or language proficiency.

Diverse Communities Health Initiative (DCHI) aims to address broad health disparities among New York’s diverse populations by providing CLAS trainings; assessment of cultural and linguistic competence of individual staff and organizations as a whole; user-friendly tools and resources; and technical assistance to organizations wishing to implement CLAS. Our CLAS trainings comply with the 2001 National CLAS standards and follow an assessment process that leads to findings which translate into concrete and actionable steps. DCHI has supported more than 19 family planning centers in New York State with practical outcomes where clinics: held staff trainings on medical interpretation; how staff worked with interpreters; hired bilingual staff; contracted telephonic services; posted multilingual signage; posted artwork in their facilities to reflect the diverse communities they serve; and translated documents into common patient languages.

Poor communication and cultural incompetence can result in a wide range of detrimental outcomes for patients, from ethical compromises to misdiagnoses. CLAS trainings for health care providers can remedy this problem by providing high quality care for all and putting disease prevention first.

For more information on CLAS trainings for health care providers contact us.