Creating a healthy community takes dedication, compassion and strong partnerships. Kaweah Delta's Community Outreach Department regularly develops new partnerships to enhance the education, awareness and prevention activities it conducts.

Community Outreach currently has six areas of focus: Diabetes Outreach, The Bridge, USC Mobile Dental Clinic, Bi-National Health Week and the Samaritan Center

Diabetes Outreach
The mission of Diabetes Outreach is to provide the necessary tools for the management of type 2 diabetes in order to minimize the severe complications and cost burdens for Tulare County residents who suffer from the disease. This mission is accomplished through a series of outreach activities including direct patient education (delivered one-on-one in a clinic setting or through home visits, or in group visits), facilitation of support groups and walking clubs, participation in screening and public awareness events, and partnering with agencies who share a similar focus.

The Bridge
ED Frequent Users Program
The Bridge is a collaborative effort between Kaweah Delta and many community agencies designed to help frequent users of the emergency department. The program assists patients who are uninsured or underinsured by linking them with primary health care providers, continuous health insurance, mental health or substance abuse counseling and treatment, and various other social and medical services. Targeting adults who visit the emergency department 5 or more times in 12 months or 8 or more times in 24 months, the program aims to improve the quality, outcomes and delivery or care, while working to minimize the financial impact on hospitals resulting from inappropriate use of emergency departments.

Salud es Vida (Health is Life)
Childhood Obesity Prevention
A project of the Community Outreach Department, the Salud es Vida (Health is Life) Project was established through a 3-year grant from the Office of Minority Health to implement a bilingual/bicultural demonstration project focusing on the area of overweight and obesity prevention and intervention. The overall goal of Salud es Vida (Health is Life) is to increase the opportunities for the adoption of healthy lifestyle behaviors necessary to prevent and/or reduce the incidence of childhood obesity. This program offers services in English and Spanish.

Asthma Outreach
Comprehensive Asthma Management Program (CAMP)
Kaweah Delta’s Community Outreach Department implements a Comprehensive Asthma Management Program in the communities of Exeter, Farmersville, Ivanhoe, Lindsay, and Visalia. The program utilizes a promotora health promotion and advocacy model targeting English and Spanish speaking families and caregivers in these communities. The program has a particular emphasis on environmental risk factor management. The program also provides education that offers a comprehensive overview of asthma as a chronic illness as well as proper management techniques.

Worksite Wellness
Developed in 2007, Worksite Wellness is a program of the Community Outreach Department that is focused on implementing quality programs targeted at improving the health and well being of all District employees. Sports teams, walking clubs, weight loss challenges, and weekly wellness newsletters are a few examples of the programs available to all District employees.

Samaritan Center
The Samaritan Center is a free clinic operated by the Visalia Ecumenical Charities that offers health care to uninsured Visalia residents. All services are provided by volunteer medical staff. Kaweah Delta partners with the Center by providing staff support in the form of an on-site administrative clerk and promotora, the only non-volunteer staff. Kaweah Delta also provides vouchers to Samaritan Center patients who can not afford ancillary services.

For more information about Community Outreach, please call (559) 624-2520.