Feb. 18 Lecture to Address Cultural Competency in Healthcare

NORTHAMPTON — Healthcare systems are beginning to recognize that a one-size-fits-all model of healthcare isn’t appropriate for everyone. Rather, each individual is different and unique, and each deserves to receive the best possible healthcare that adapts to their specific values, perspectives, and needs.

Community members are invited to a Cooley Dickinson/Massachusetts General Hospital lecture, “A Person-centered Approach to Cultural Competency in Health Care: Thinking Outside of the Box,” with Dr. Alexander Green, on Thursday, Feb. 18 in the Dakin Conference Room at Cooley Dickinson Hospital. The event begins with a light dinner from 6 to 6:30 p.m., followed by the lecture and question-and-answer session from 6:30 to 8 p.m.

Green will define cultural competency in healthcare and how it has grown in popularity over the past decade. What started as an approach to meet the needs of ethnic minorities has grown to include a broader person-centered approach that recognizes that each person’s unique culture is influenced by many factors, such as ethnicity, nationality, sexual orientation, and gender identity, to name a few. He will help healthcare professionals understand how these factors impact their perspectives, and will guide community members to become more informed and empowered healthcare consumers.

Green is co-founder of Quality Interactions and associate director of the Disparities Solutions Center at Massachusetts General Hospital. He is also associate professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School, where he chairs the cross-cultural care committee. He completed his medical degree at the University of California, San Diego, and internal-medicine residency at New York Presbyterian Hospital – Cornell, where he later served as associate director of the primary-care medicine residency program. He was a National Health Service Corps fellow in a community health center in Queens, N.Y., and co-developed a highly acclaimed curriculum on cross-cultural healthcare. He received an MPH from the Harvard School of Public Health and completed a research fellowship at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Harvard Medical School.

Green leads and has published widely in the area of racial/ethnic disparities in healthcare and cultural competence. He was an expert panelist for the Joint Commission’s Hospitals, Language, and Culture project, and he helped create a widely used documentary film and educational compendium, called Worlds Apart. His work explores root causes of disparities and promotes culturally competent healthcare through education and quality improvement.

The Cooley Dickinson and Massachusetts General Hospital lecture series features advances in treatment and healthcare delivery, health policy issues of the day, and medical research. The Feb. 18 lecture is free and open to all, but seating is limited, and registration is required. Register online at www.cooley-dickinson.org/classes, or call (888) 554-4CDH (4234).