Check out the September RIM Newsletter here.
Dayton and Montgomery County focus on cultural competency and the idea of meeting people where they are. The mission of the organization is simple: “to improve the quality of life in our community by achieving the goals of public health: prevention, promotion and protection.” Understanding and respecting the populations they serve is incredibly important to their work. Their materials are available in several languages- from Spanish to Swahili.
This organization has created 10 sessions dedicated to COVID contact tracing in RIM communities. They’ve also introduced 50 new vaccine clinics in areas with a high RIM population. They’ve created a COVID-19 hotline specifically for RIM communities and initiated a health assessment questionnaire that reached around 150 people.
Terra Williams, Director of Health Promotion at Public Health- Dayton and Montgomery County, is a trailblazer in public health. They partnered with Ebenezer Healthcare Access (EHA) to “address social determinants of health by overcoming language and cultural barriers.” Together, they have created several presentations and COVID-19 materials to educate and support the RIM community they serve. Their relationship with Ebenezer Healthcare Access was something Williams noted several times.
“Though Ebenezer Healthcare Access started out as a care coordination and we’ve been using them for multi-language to help the community health workers be able to provide a holistic care to our RIM communities,” said Williams.
The partnership between Dayton and Montgomery County and Ebenezer Healthcare Access is one that has brought a lot of resources to the RIM population of this community. With NACCHO funding, they will continue to grow their program to reach even more communities in need of new resources and support. Whereas COVID-19 put a wedge in the work of millions of people, Williams said that it has strengthened their organization. The pandemic emphasized the need for collaboration with local health departments and other organizations. Collective work leads to collective action.
