In recent years, large numbers of refugees have settled in Oneida County and continue to do so at an increasing rate. Language barriers and cultural differences have made assimilation into the community difficult for these residents, especially accessing healthcare and social services and pertinent medical, health, and insurance information. To address this need, the Oneida County Health Coalition (OCHC), a multi-agency partnership led by the Oneida County Health Department, formed the Access Steering Committee. This Committee’s primary objective was to develop a centralized source of pertinent medical and health-related information to improve the target population’s access to health care.

The goal of the ACCESS to Healthcare Information for Culturally Diverse Populations Project is to reduce health disparities for culturally and linguistically diverse populations within the community.

Thanks to this collaborative effort, 29 standard medical forms, Medicaid documents, and other health brochures were translated into the four languages of the target population—Russian, Bosnian, Vietnamese, and Spanish. These documents were organized into 20 binders that include an English version for reference, an index by subject, and are color-coded by language. A CD similar to these documents is included in the binder. This information has been made available online through a Web site that features the same documents. These reference binders were distributed to all local hospitals and other health and human service agencies throughout Oneida County that are striving to provide quality service to those that speak little or no English.