The inaugural class of community health workers, from CelebrateOne’s Connector Corps program, were recognized Tuesday by Mayor Andrew Ginther and other city officials. The 24 women graduating spent the past year learning how to connect at-risk populations around Columbus with life-improving resources with the end goal of reducing Franklin County’s infant mortality rate.
Graduate Claudia Ruiz Lopez, a bilingual connector working for St. Stephens Community House in the Linden neighborhood, said the training experience was stressful and eye opening. Her role at St. Stephens puts her in direct contact with the new American population, many of whom are Hispanic, Nepali, and Somali. She said the language barriers they encounter affect the kind of involvement they have in their own healthcare, causing their ethnic background to be a “social determinant of health.”
“I work with undocumented people who, they can’t even go to the doctor because they don’t have an ID, or they don’t know, they’re scared,” Lopez said.
With Lopez there, she said the number of people in the Hispanic population seeking help from St. Stephens has increased substantially. People like having someone there who speaks their language, looks like them and has similar life experiences. As a second generation Mexican, Lopez said she had parents who’ve gone through the same process.
To help them navigate the system, Lopez gives her clients information on resources to improve their social determinants of health: neighborhood and built environment, health and healthcare, social and community context, education and economic stability. Research on infant mortality shows that when someone’s home life is unstable, or if they have minimal or no access to prenatal care, or they live in an unsafe neighborhood, go to low-performing schools and earn low wages, their babies are less likely to make it through their first year.
That’s why Lopez and her cohorts are there. The 24 women are sent to the eight highest-risk neighborhoods for infant mortality (Linden, Near South Side, Near East Side, Hilltop, Franklinton, Morse Rd-161, the Northeast and Southeast) in hopes of cutting the infant mortality rate by 40 percent and the racial disparity in half. So far this year, the connectors have screened 2,000 women, 25 percent of whom were pregnant, according to a press release. The team has also educated more than 10,000 Columbus residents and connected them with resources, programs and services to help reduce infant mortality.
CelebrateOne is still in its infancy, established in 2014 after the Greater Columbus Infant Mortality Taskforce released its final report. Given that, it’s hard to determine in the short-term how educating these thousands of residents are affecting the county’s infant mortality rate.
However, the infant mortality rate for Franklin County has fluctuated each quarter of 2016. In the first and second quarters of this year, the rate hovered around 10 per 1,000 live births, above the Healthy People 2020 (HP2020) goal of less than six deaths per 1,000 live births. The third quarter’s rate dropped drastically, though, averaging to 5.9 deaths, just below HP2020’s goal.
For the progress to continue, Lopez needs more people like her addressing communities like hers. But she’s alone in her neighborhood, one connector serving a community of new Americans. The Connector Corps program is funded by a $1.7 million grant from United Health Foundation through the next two years, guaranteeing a total of 72 community workers once its three-year run is up.
Although Lopez graduated the program, she’s staying with St. Stephens as their family advocacy manager. As a full-time employee she’ll continue working with minority populations, helping them figure out what resources are available, how the system works, and what rights they have.
For more information, visit www.celebrateone.info.