Check out the July Newsletter here.

This week, NACCHO had the opportunity to sit down with Delany Sieving, Director of Health Education and Outreach, and Bryanna Cloninger, Assistant Director of the Health Education and Outreach, from Cass County Health Department.

One of Cass County’s most notable programs is the Welcoming Center. The Welcoming Center is “a one-stop center that provides linguistically and culturally sensitive case management services. [They] help immigrants and refugees secure basic services needed to become socially and economically self-sufficient.

Sieving explained, “their sole purpose is to kind of help the population that is either new to the country or the area with all of the things, especially language resources, because a lot of our businesses and community organizations do not have Spanish, French, or Burmese speakers.”

Both Sieving and Cloninger had a very active role in the department’s COVID response. Sieving oversaw resource coordination, including their community health workers, and worked to address barriers that their RIM populations face. Every community health worker was chosen because of their pre-established role as a trusted messenger in their community.

Cloninger shared that the first contact tracer they hired “came to [them] with firsthand experience on how COVID had impacted her family.”

She explained that her mother was one of their first COVID cases and almost lost her life to it. Sieving and Cloninger emphasized their role in educating their community to make decisions with their health being at the forefront of their decision process.

Another success they had was their pop-up clinics. These clinics occurred on several different days at several different times to ensure they were reaching a wide audience and adhering to the needs of their community. They brought these clinics to places like churches, grocery stores, and coffee shops.

Throughout the pandemic, Cloninger ensured she was making beneficial relationships with other clinics, CBO’s and neighboring organizations in the community.

They encourage other organizations to continue sharing information and best approaches to fighting misinformation, as learning from each other is undoubtedly helpful in making sure we serve our RIM communities in the best way possible.

To learn more about Cass County’s work, check out their website here.