The Ethnic Physician Summit Community Health Collaboration Workshop brought together members from six Ethnic Physician Organizations with representatives from New California Media, the California Primary Care Association, and Glaxo SmithKline, one of the Summit's supporting organizations. The diverse perspectives of the Physician Organizations and potential community and funding partners created a stimulating discussion that generated important insights about how Ethnic Physician Organizations can increase their effectiveness in promoting the health of their communities.

All of the participants recognized the importance of physician organization involvement in community health efforts and, indeed, all of the physician organizations represented in this session had active community programs addressing health conditions such as diabetes, asthma, and Hepatitis B as well as tobacco use prevention.

Their primary motivations varied: some focused on providing services to or increasing access to health care for recent immigrants; others gave priority to community education and prevention efforts. All agreed that community involvement is a core and deep-seated value of their organizations.

The physicians participating in the workshop identified a number of community partners with whom they work. They included a full range of businesses that were important vehicles for community education and for fundraising. Other partners included community clinics and hospitals. Some organizations worked closely with their local ethnic media writing newspaper columns, hosting radio and TV show, and receiving coverage for the events they conduct. Other partner organizations included churches, ethnic chambers of commerce, schools, and alumni groups.

The workshop participants identified a number of important lessons learned from their experience in working with community organizations. The most significant lessons were:

• Involve community partners from the beginning in order to build trust and establish a true partnership.
  
• Involve ethnic media as partners - not just as information disseminators. Ethnic newspaper, radio and TV outlets can act as co-sponsors of events and full partners in community education efforts.
  
• Hospitals can be especially effective partners - they have both the expertise and the resources to make significant contributions to community health promotion efforts.
  
• Physician organizations engaged in community health should be prepared for the long haul - it takes time to build partnerships and long-term relationships are the most effective.
  

The Workshop participants then identified the technical assistance and training needs that could be addressed by an EPO Network. Their recommendations included:

• Create teams of experts - including EPO leaders - to make site visits to EPO organizations developing community projects.
  
• Establish venues to share best practices and establish peer mentoring relationships.
  
• Provide training and support for grant writing including identifying funding opportunities.
  
• Increase the involvement of EPOs in the development and implementation of CMA Foundation health projects.