Several years ago I was approached by the University of Portland School of Nursing to assist with a project on culturally competent training for doctors and nurses. At that meeting I was introduced to Marie Dahlstrom who, at the time, was the Executive Director of Familias en Acción in Portland Oregon. After that meeting I began a rewarding journey that ended with the delivery of a fully-online certificate program for Culturally Competent Palliative Care for Latinos. It is not often you get to work on a project from idea to delivery. The certificate is now live and delivered through the California State University Institute for Palliate Care.
I started as a mentor and eventually the Instructional Designer and Media Designer for the entire project. I donated my time to capture scenes depicted culturally inclusive and culturally exclusive ways to interact and treat patients. I later was able to enlist the help of Maria Erb who I had hired as a full time Instructional Designer for the University of Portland. Maria took over the Instructional Design duties and I worked with content experts and focused my attention at capturing and editing all of the video scenarios that where used throughout the course.
At the core of the curriculum was videos depicting culturally exclusive and inclusive scenarios. These scenarios came from actual events reported by patient navigators and content experts.
When producing these videos my office at UP was turned into a waiting room, doctors office, family kitchen and we got permission to use the UP simulation lab. This project was a catalyst for the creation of what is now the Academic Multimedia Studio at the University of Portland.
I was recognized at the 2014 Latino Health Equity Conference for my support of Familias en Acción and this ground breaking work.
I’m providing a letter of support from Marie Dahlstrom as part of this project.