St. Joseph Hospital of Orange El Club de Salud
El Club de Salud at St. Joseph Hospital of Orange represents an important change in
 how our clinics promote health and wellness.  El Club’s target population is clinic patients who have chronic disease and have a willingness to learn how to better manage their disease. The program educates patients on how to prevent and manage chronic illness and also helps them achieve improved health through long-term behavioral changes in nutrition, exercise and other factors critical to successful disease management. During this second year of the program, El Club educators have incorporated lessons learned during their first year of operation. Over the past year, El Club has begun mentoring “The Cambodian Family,” as they adapt the program to meet the needs of their community.

El Club now offers more direct coaching support and organizes activities to address each patient’s level of disease and motivation to change unhealthy behaviors. Patients are referred by providers from each of St. Joseph’s community clinics, La Amistad de Jose (fixed site clinic) and Puente a La Salud (mobile clinic).  Using the Transtheoritical Model of Behavior Change, all patients are screened on their readiness to make healthy lifestyle changes.  El Club activities include Healthy Lifestyles, Dance/Exercise, “cold” and “hot” cooking classes, diabetes management classes, Walking Club and field trips to the local supermarket and fast food restaurants to encourage healthy decisions.

Enrolled patients have experienced a statistically significant improvement in health indicators over the course of the program. Continued tracking of these indicators will provide an objective picture of behavioral change and its affect on individual and community health.  Health indicators tracked include diabetes, cardiac risk factor and body mass index (BMI). Over time, that data is compared to patients’ participation in El Club activities in order to assess the effectiveness of the program.  Over its two year of operation, El Club has enrolled 765 patients and is currently at capacity. 

Community partners in El Club de Salud include Lestonnac Free Clinic, St. Joseph Heritage Medical Group, St. Joseph Hospital Vascular Institute, St. Joseph Hospital Wellness Center, St. Joseph Hospital Women’s Heart Center and the Community Action Partnership of Orange County. 

Funders: St. Joseph Health System Foundation, St. Joseph Hospital-Orange, Aetna Foundation, Carrie Estelle Doheny Foundation   Top