Field Placement 1: Perinatal Advisory
Council: Leadership, Advocacy and Consultation (PAC/LAC)
Location: Los Angeles, CA
Preceptor: Dena Chwan, MPP
Field Placement 2: Public Health Foundation Enterprises Women, Infants, and
Children Program (PHFE-WIC)
Preceptor: Sharen Anthony, RD
Location: Irwindale, CA
Student Name: Agnes F. de la Vega
Year: 2003
I completed my field studies internship with two maternal and child health
organizations in Los Angeles County. The Perinatal Advisory Council: Leadership,
Advocacy and Consultation (PAC/LAC) provides quality education, consultation
and advocacy to professionals and systems that care for women and their families.
PAC/LAC is also a partner in the Los Angeles Best Babies Collaborative (LABBC)
with Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology as
the lead agency. Other LABBC partners include UCLA’s Center for Healthier
Children, Families, and Communities, the Los Angeles County Department of Health
Services – Maternal, Child, and Adolescent Health Programs, and the March
of Dimes, Greater Los Angeles Division. The goals of the LABBC are to provide
community-based strategies and technical assistance to organizations working
to improve birth outcomes.
The Public Health Foundation Enterprises Women, Infants, and Children Program
(PHFE-WIC) has been providing WIC services in Los Angeles and Orange Counties
for over 25 years. PHFE-WIC is the largest local WIC agency in the country,
with 55 clinics serving approximately 316,000 clients every month.
I conducted a needs assessment to gain insight into maternal and child health
issues facing the Asian and Pacific Islander (API) community by gathering secondary
data and by conducting site visits and key informant interviews with local community-based
API organizations. Findings from the needs assessment will inform future PAC/LAC
planning activities. In addition, I facilitated round table discussions with
community members at the Healthy Births Learning Collaboratives (HBLCs). The
discussions focused on the principles and application of effective community
partnerships. I also attended various meetings and workgroups, such as Service
Planning Area Council meetings and the First 5 LA Commission meeting.
A highlight of my internship was my exposure to public policy and advocacy.
I prepared a policy brief about AB 292 (Yee), which would prohibit agencies
that receive state funding from using any child under the age of 15 as an interpreter.
In addition, I gave a presentation on Proposition 54 at PAC/LAC’s State
of the State Public Policy Forum. Proposition 54 was on the ballot for the October
7, 2003 Special Statewide Election and would have prohibited state and local
governments from collecting or using information about race, ethnicity, color,
or national origin, unless specifically exempted. I also created a one-page
fact sheet about Proposition 54 and distributed it to PHFE-WIC staff.
My responsibilities at PHFE-WIC were with WIC Empower Teens, which directs several
programs. Targeting Outcomes for Children (TOUCH) was a one-year program which
provided intensive care coordination for high-risk teen mothers at the Santa
Ana East WIC Center. I compiled data from parent questionnaires using SPSS and
wrote an evaluation of TOUCH.
The most recent program under WIC Empowers Teens is the “Sprinkle”,
a breastfeeding support group for teen mothers at the WIC clinics. I helped
plan the curriculum to teach teen facilitators the concept of the Sprinkle,
presented the warm-up, and comoderated the training.
In order to evaluate WIC staff’s one-on-one interactions with teens, I
developed a preliminary observation instrument using the nutrition counseling
standard operating procedures and other WIC instruments. I pretested it at several
WIC clinics and made the necessary adjustments to finalize the evaluation instrument.
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