Domestic Violence Health Care Partnership

About the Program

Category: Health (Best in Category)

Year: 2016

Domestic violence is a health care problem of epidemic proportions. In addition to the immediate trauma caused by abuse, domestic violence contributes to a number of chronic health problems, including depression, alcohol and substance abuse, sexually transmitted diseases such as HIV/AIDS, and often limits the ability of victims to manage other chronic illnesses such as diabetes and hypertension. The goal of the domestic violence (DV) and healthcare safety net partnership is to address and prevent DV through integrated models of service and system-level improvements. In the County San Bernardino, a partnership between the Family Assistance Program, a non-profit organization, and the County of San Bernardino Department of Public Hesperia Health Center, a Federally Qualified Health Care Center was established. Since the implementation of this project the Family Assistance Program and the Health Center successfully impacted several crucial areas: ● Changes in shelter and clinical practice ● Collection and analysis of quality improvement data to measure change in behavior and practice ● Improvement in identification of DV patients ● Increased health care resource acquisition for DV victims ● Impact on community knowledge and attitudes ● Significant improvement in shelter clients accessing routine care