UHCOP Moves Forward with Hispanic Healthcare Initiative

Affiliation Agreement, Embedded Pharmacist Pave Way for New Education, Services at East-side Clinic

UH College of Pharmacy recently hit several milestones in the implementation of its multifaceted Hispanic Healthcare Initiative, which is designed to deliver – and prepare students to deliver -- culturally and linguistically competent care to underserved patient populations in Houston and across the state.

In September, the college established an affiliation agreement with Vecino Health Centers, a Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC) with two clinics based in neighborhoods with predominately Hispanic/Spanish-speaking patient populations. 

Vecino Health Centers CEO Daniel Montez, UHCOP faculty member Nancy Chung and Denver Harbor Medical Director Don Briscoe are pictured at the clinic.

The college also recently welcomed the appointment of Clinical Assistant Professor Nancy Chung, Pharm.D., BCACP, a 2011 UHCOP graduate and ambulatory care pharmacist with Spanish language proficiency and experience working with Hispanic/Latino patient populations through residency programs in Austin and Orlando.  Chung’s practice site will be at Vecino’s Denver Harbor Family Clinic in the Inner Loop area east of downtown.

Chung will begin precepting pharmacy students for Advanced Pharmacy Practice Experiences (APPE) for fourth year students in Summer 2014, with Introductory Pharmacy Practice Experiences (IPPE) in the P1-P3 years to follow in Fall 2014. Denver Harbor is expected to serve one of the preferred APPE sites for students who’ve completed the Spanish for the Global Professions certificate program to provide abundant opportunities to practice their linguistic and cultural competencies.

The affiliation also is expected to yield new pathways for interprofessional education, with Denver Harbor serving as the main longitudinal site for Houston Methodist Hospital’s Family Medicine Residency Program and a rotation site for medical students/interns from area medical institutions.  UHCOP student organizations also will likely have the opportunity to participate in health fairs and other screening or education activities at the site.

UHCOP students have been assisting Vecino staff with community health fairs, including one in the Aldine community earlier this year.

“The affiliation with Denver Harbor and the collaboration between practitioners and students in pharmacy and other health professions will present a unique learning and service opportunity to provide enhanced patient care for the community,” Chung said.

Chung and the physicians at Denver Harbor Clinic have developed a collaborative practice protocol to integrate clinical pharmacy services focusing on risk reduction and management of diabetes, hyperlipidemia, and hypertension.

“Hypertension, diabetes and obesity are the most common disease states that we see, often in the same person,” said Don Briscoe, M.D., Denver Harbor’s medical director and chairman of the Family Medicine department/program director of the Family Medicine residency at Houston Methodist Hospital . “These patients often have multiple medications and don’t understand how and why they are using them; the risks to their health from their conditions and from their treatments; and non-medical things that they can do to improve their health. 

“We believe that pharmacists and students will have a big role in aiding these patients.”