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Overview - What is Social Action?
In Zeta, social action relates to the sorority’s
involvement in government affairs. This can include voter registration
drives, issue forums, letter writing campaigns, lobby days, candidate
forums, etc. Social action activities can be conducted at the local,
state and national levels.
Why do we have a legislative priority? What is it?
In order to make a true impact, Zeta must prioritize the many pressing issues that face our community, and decide
where we can make a genuine impact. For the 109th Congress
(2005-2006), Zeta has selected Health Disparities as our primary
legislative priority. This means that our legislative efforts at all
levels will focus on passing legislation, and working with communities
and government agencies to implement public policy that will eliminate
disparities.
Institute of Medicine
Study Recommendations [Summary Excerpt]
General
Increase awareness of racial and ethnic disparities
in healthcare among the general public and key stakeholders.
Increase healthcare providers’
awareness of disparities.
Legal, Regulatory, and Policy Interventions
Avoid
fragmentation of health plans along socioeconomic lines. Strengthen the
stability of patient-provider relationships in publicly funded health
plans. Increase the proportion of underrepresented U.S. racial and
ethnic minorities among health professionals. Apply the same managed
care protections to publicly funded HMO enrollees that apply to private
HMO enrollees. Provide greater resources to the U.S. DHHS Office for
Civil Rights to enforce civil rights laws.
Health
Systems Interventions
Promote the consistency and equity of care through
the use of evidence-based guidelines. Structure payment systems to
ensure an adequate supply of services to minority patients, and limit
provider incentives that may promote disparities.
Enhance patient-provider
communication and trust by providing financial incentives for practices
that reduce barriers and encourage evidence-based practice.
Support the use of interpretation services where community need exists.
Support the use of community health workers. Implement
multidisciplinary treatment and preventive care teams.
Patient Education and Empowerment
Implement patient education programs to increase
patients’ knowledge of how to best access care and participate in
treatment decisions.Cross-Cultural Education in the Health Professions
Integrate
cross-cultural education into the training of all current and future
health professionals.
Data
Collection and Monitoring
Collect
and report data on health care access and utilization by patients’ race,
ethnicity, socioeconomic status, and where possible, primary language.
Include measures of
racial and ethnic disparities in performance measurements.
Monitor progress toward the elimination of healthcare disparities.
Report racial and ethnic data by OMB categories, but use subpopulation
groups where possible.
Research
Needs
Conduct further research to identify sources of
racial and ethnic disparities and assess promising intervention
strategies. Conduct research on ethical issues and other barriers to
eliminating disparities.
How Does Social Action Relate to other Sorority Programs?
Social action programs are not meant to take away
from other sorority programs. For example, although ZHOPE is not the
same as social action, ZHOPE programs could include a social action
component. You do not get points for social action programs. The only
social action programs for which you can currently receive points
according to how they are written in the ZHOPE manual are “Getting to
Know Your Candidates” and “Election Night Counts”.
For example, if your chapter did the ZHOPE program
“How Crowded is My Bed”, you might include a section on legislation
involving comprehensive sexuality education and abstinence only
education. In the past few years there has been a large increase in the
amount of federal funding directed towards abstinence only education (no
mention of condoms and other birth control methods). After providing
information on the legislation, you might encourage participants to
contact their legislators to offer their opinions on sexuality
education. It would be great for the participants to refer to the
information learned in the particular ZHOPE program when talking with
their legislator.
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