Iris Cantor-UCLA Women’s Health Center Seeks API Lesbians for Cultural Competency Survey

Iris Cantor-UCLA Women’s Health Center, in partnership with the L.A. County Lesbian and Bisexual Women’s Health Collaborative, is trying to develop cultural competency health care provider training to provide better quality health care to lesbian and bisexual women. They have already worked and gathered the opinions and experiences of lesbian and bisexual Latinas, African American, military veterans of various age groups and now look to learn from Asian Pacific Islanders.

The focus group is from 7:00 pm – 9:00 pm Monday, July 16. There will be light refreshments and a $15 gift card for participating. For focus group location, questions, or to register, please contact Daphne Alexander dtalexander@mednet.ucla.edu or at (310) 794-8063.

Here’s some more background and a list of who’s conducting the study:

WHO:

• Susan Cohen, director of health education and prevention, LA Gay & Lesbian Center

• Farina Dary, Lesbian Visibility Committee, City of West Hollywood

• Allison Diamant, associate professor of medicine, Iris Cantor-UCLA Women’s Health Center

• Ellen Eidem, director of the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health’s Office of Women’s Health

• Julie Friedman, director. Iris Cantor-UCLA Women’s Health Center

• Hon. Abbe Land, Mayor Pro Tempore, City of West Hollywood

• Sue LaVaccare, manager of the Center for Young Women, division of adolescent medicine, Children’s Hospital Los Angeles

• Corri Planck, deputy to Mayor Pro Tempore Abbe Land, City of West Hollywood

• Dr. Janet Pregler, director of the Iris Cantor-UCLA Women’s Health Education & Resource Center and professor of medicine, division of general internal medicine and health services research, David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA

• Arlene Schneir, associate director, division of adolescent medicine, Children’s Hospital Los Angeles

• Elaine Suranie, former chair, California Commission on the Status of Women

 

• BACKGROUND:

Founded in 1995, the Iris Cantor-UCLA Women’s Health Education & Resource Center was one of the first comprehensive academic women’s health centers in the nation. It provides primary care designed exclusively for women by highly trained women physicians, and offers specialty consultations on osteoporosis, menopause, nutrition, and other women’s issues. The Center also provides free community programs on topics of particular concern to women such as heart disease, breast cancer, diabetes, and teen dating violence prevention, with a focus on underserved women and girls. On the education front, the Center has created a new women’s health curriculum for medical students at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA covering breast and ovarian cancer; the relationship of female hormones to heart disease and stroke; nutrition, diabetes, osteoporosis, contraception, and healthy aging.

LA County Lesbian and Bisexual Women’s Health Collaborative was initiated by a group created by members of the lesbian and bisexual women’s community of Los Angeles County, made up of individuals with long experience advocating for the health and wellbeing of lesbians and bisexual women. A steering committee currently meets quarterly to oversee the design and implementation of this project. The steering committee contains both longstanding members of the collaborative and academic collaborators on the project.