Check out the January 2024 RIM Newsletter here.
This month, NACCHO had the opportunity to sit down with Allison Balmes-John from Rappahannock Area Health District to hear more about the wonderful work they are doing through NACCHO’s Afghan grant.
Rappahannock Area Health District is an organization based in Virginia that strives to “protect the community and the environment through the prevention of disease, lasting community partnerships, access to quality services, and the promotion of healthy behaviors.”
Balmes-John oversees the community health workers, a key part of the Afghan grant.
“A few things that we’re doing under that [grant] is a health literacy curriculum with newly arrived refugees from Afghanistan,” explained Balmes-John. “It’s offered in Dari because we fund a community health worker who is himself a refugee and speakers Dari.”
This curriculum is made up of 8 lessons and given over a two-day in-person gathering. They work with their local resettlement agency to provide transportation to and from these services and leverage this relationship to gain referrals to the community members that might need their services most.
This curriculum dives into tricky subjects that might be difficult to understand, especially to those that are not from the United States. These topics include emergency room vs urgent care visits, reading nutrition labels, and understanding prescriptions.
Balmes-John explained that they do “a lot of resource navigation and case management for people coming to those newcomer clinics.
“We’ve really been able to expand that and get people connected to the food bank, or other doctors’ offices or whoever it may be,” said Balmes-John. “Having the funds to do this and the additional staffing has really allowed us to better serve the community.”
When asked about overall successes of this project, she explained “having a community health worker on staff who has a lived experience, speaks the language, and can build a lot of trust has been critical for developing relationships in this community.”
To learn more about the amazing work Rappahannock Area Health District is doing, check out their website here.
