WISEWOMAN Program Locations
Southcentral Foundation

Background: From 1999 through June of 2008, the Alaska Native Medical Center was funded as an enhanced research project. As of July 1, 2008, Southcentral Foundation has been funded as a standard project.

WISEWOMAN Program:  Southcentral Foundation is using Michigan’s Health Partnership lifestyle intervention. This intervention will be incorporated into SCF’s Primary Care Center on the Alaska Native Medical Campus as the standard of care for all Alaska Native or American Indian women over the age of 40 who present for a clinical breast exam (as qualified by eligibility for the NBCCEDP). The intervention will be offered by registered dietitians and behavioral health consultants who are a part of the primary care clinical team. A variety of methods will be used to deliver intervention information; mailings, telephone contact and one-on-one appointments. Eligible women will be tracked and followed and given rescreens to evaluate effectiveness of the program.

Screening: Risk factor screening will include a non-fasting blood draw to check cholesterol and glucose levels. Additional measurements and self-reported information will be used to determine current cardiovascular disease risk.

Sites: One family medicine clinic involving 33 physicians at Southcentral Foundation serving the Anchorage Bowl area.

 

For further information, contact: Kate Landis, BA WISEWOMAN Program Director E-mail:  kslandis@scf.cc Janice Swier WISEWOMAN Program Coordinator E-mail:  jswier@scf.cc Becky Oberrecht, BBA WISEWOMAN Data Manager E-mail:  roberrecht@scf.cc

Program Highlights

Direct Services

• The Southcentral Foundation WISEWOMAN program provides services to women within two primary care settings: the Alaska Native Primary Care Clinic in Anchorage (six separate clinics) and the Valley Native Primary Care Clinic in Wasilla. The program conducted 943 screenings during the 2009–2010 reporting period, which represented 90% of its screening goal.¹
• The Southcentral Foundation WISEWOMAN program conducted 825 lifestyle intervention sessions during the 2009–2010 reporting period.

Partnerships

• Southcentral Foundation's WISEWOMAN program partners with Southcentral Foundation's on-campus Health Education Department to provide women with additional lifestyle intervention services. A wide variety of exercise and activity classes are offered to women on the Alaska Native Medical Center Campus, including Pilates, Drumming for Life, Tai Chi, Zumba, Lose to Win (weight loss program), Diabetes Self-Management, Stress Management, and one-on-one appointments with an exercise technologist. The Health Education Department also manages a fully equipped, state-of-the-art exercise facility. Seventy-two percent of women who participated in the lifestyle intervention were linked to these additional services.

Evaluation

• When Southcentral Foundation applied for WISEWOMAN funding, it decided to provide WISEWOMAN screening services for all women aged 40–64 years when they came for their annual visit (not just women eligible for the WISEWOMAN Program). The program wanted to determine if all women were offered the screening and, if not, why this happened. From July to December 2009, an average of 51% of the women who came in for an annual visit were offered WISEWOMAN screening services. Southcentral Foundation offered more training and assistance for health care clinic staff, sent feedback reports to clinic managers, offered provider incentives, and restructured the clinics. As a result, from January to June 2010, an average of 73% of the women who came in for an annual visit were offered WISEWOMAN screening services. All clinics now have a goal of providing WISEWOMAN screening services for 80% of the women who are seen for their annual exam, and the evaluation will continue to be used to refine and improve the screening process. By offering WISEWOMAN screening services to all women seen at the clinics, Southcentral Foundation reaches more women with these important services, and the clinics have adopted a new standard of care that all must strive to meet.

Reference

1. Data are reported from the preliminary WISEWOMAN Minimum Data Elements report (October 2010). Screening includes any WISEWOMAN-funded screening (blood pressure, cholesterol, or diabetes) provided from July 1, 2009, to June 30, 2010. Lifestyle interventions refer to the number of lifestyle intervention sessions conducted from July 1, 2009, to June 30, 2010.