The CLAS Challenge: Promoting Culturally and Linguistically Appropriate Services in Health Care

Abstract

Vista Community Clinic's Cultural Awareness Program (CAP), funded by the US Office of Minority Health, aims to institutionalize culturally and linguistically appropriate services as outlined in the federal Culturally and Linguistically Appropriate Services (CLAS) Standards for the diverse San Diego County population through the promotion of organizational change at all levels of health care. The CAP program hopes to contribute to this end through offering educational sessions, aiding health care organizations in making changes to their structure in the areas of culture and language, as well as through the development of a website and a resource manual. Facilitating systems change in culturally and linguistically appropriate service delivery has proven to be the most challenging component of the CAP program. Based on seven years of experience in this area, CAP program staff proposes that the success of culturally and linguistically appropriate services depends on the degree to which organizational “buy-in” is achieved, the enforcement of the standards and the ability of health care organizations to work in collaboration with the community in which they serve.

Notes

^aCommonly and hereto forward referred to in this article as “The CLAS Standards.”