Contact: Polly Marquette

"The best way to enhance health outcomes for people from all walks of life is to recognize the incredible rate at which our population is changing and then learn how to approach different ethnic and cultural groups in a way that ensures positive health outcomes for individuals within those groups."

- Mae Marie Quan
associate program administrator,
UK Area Health Education and Training Centers

LEXINGTON, Ky. (Sept. 19, 2003) -- Area health care professionals and students enrolled in health care programs at the University of Kentucky will have a unique opportunity to prepare for a changing patient population at a seminar designed to help them deal effectively with the growing diversity of Kentucky communities.

The seminar, “Cultural Competence – Reflections on Race, Ethnicity and Culture: Considerations for Health Professionals,” will draw experts in the field including keynote speakers Richard Garcia, M.D., a practicing pediatrician from Stockton, Calif., and Samuel C. Matheny, M.D., chair of the UK College of Medicine Department of Family Practice and Community Medicine. Day one of the program will be dedicated exclusively to students. Attendees on the second day will come from multiple health care professions.

Mae Marie Quan, associate program administrator, UK Area Health Education and Training Centers, calls this opportunity, “one of the most unique that students, providers and administrators who interact regularly with patients will have. The best way to enhance health outcomes for people from all walks of life is to recognize the incredible rate at which our population is changing and then learn how to approach different ethnic and cultural groups in a way that ensures positive health outcomes for individuals within those groups.”

The seminar complements charges by the American Association of Medical Colleges to incorporate diversity and cultural sensitivity training into health-related curriculums. Insight gained through the program will prepare providers to better understand how language, culture and religion impact healing and health in all people.

The seminar will take place from 1 to 5:30 p.m. Friday, Sept. 19, for UK students and from 8:30 a.m. until 3 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 20, for area health care professionals at Lexington’s Hyatt Regency Hotel.