Drew Bathe
Janna Arabikatbi
Maryama Hussein
Fred Flores
Natalie Rosseau
Terry Pang
Christine Hedstrom
Stephanie Rodriguez
OUR TEAM: We are a group of 8 motivated students from across the university (undergraduate, medical, physician assistant, and public health programs), with a mutual passion for health promotion and a vested interest in community-centered health. Through our time in AHL, we engaged in culturally-mindful service with our site partners to combat health myths/misinformation so residents could feel empowered to achieve their health goals. Each week, we worked collaboratively to create health implementations that took strides towards improving health literacy with our clients. This academic year, we had the privilege of working with and learning from the residents of 2 sites: Emery House and A Wider Circle at Highland Dwellings & Additions (HDA).
Discussing SMART Goals with the residents at Emery House
Emery House is a work-bed program that assists men experiencing homelessness who are employed or in job-training, and are working towards transitioning into permanent housing. Emery House implementations were held every two weeks, allowing our team to build lasting connections with residents through large and small group discussions, demos, and one-on-one interactions. Building year-long relationships with the men at Emery House has allowed our team to develop a nuanced understanding of the community that we hope to serve in the future.
Highland Dwellings and Additions is a neighborhood in Southeast D.C. where 100% of residents live in poverty. At HDA, we worked with the organization A Wider Circle, which facilitates neighborhood partnerships to provide essential community resources. Our monthly implementations utilized large group discussions, demonstrations, and one-on-one conversations with residents to promote health literacy. HDA pushed us beyond what we learned in the classroom to work interprofessionally and develop genuine relationships with outcomeoriented projects for a family-centered community.
Planning a community garden with the Highland Dwellings & Additions community
Overall Recommendations Define the scope of content before implementations & meetings
Foster relationships
Communicate early & often
Take responsibility & hold each other accountable
Plan ahead and be flexible
Keys to Success Lessons from Team Development ● Address conflict early ● Step up and step back ● Bring your own lens of expertise ● Acknowledge your own limitations ● Learn how to set collective and individual goals ● Set your own goals and help others achieve their goals Lessons from Client Development ● Not everyone needs us ● Implementations may be perceived by people differently ● Forming personal relationships is key to promoting health literacy ● Our perceptions of “general knowledge” are influenced by cultural and contextual norms