Urban Health Initiative Summer 2018 

News and Events

Dr. Charles Moore receives Thomas Jefferson Award for community health service

Frustrated by seeing indigent patients with serious illnesses who could have been helped by earlier treatment, Emory School of Medicine professor and founder and Director of Urban Health Initiative Charles Moore, MD created a network of community centers that help bridge the health care gap in Atlanta. In recognition of his leadership, commitment, and “heroic efforts in community health and service,” Moore received the 2018 Thomas Jefferson Award at the Emory Commencement ceremony on Monday, May 14. Named and endowed by the Robert Earl McConnell Foundation, the award honors a member of the Emory faculty or staff who has significantly enriched the intellectual and civic life of the Emory community. Read more about Dr. Moore and his work here.

Emory Global Health Initiative Grant

Four Urban Health Initiative volunteers were awarded an Emory Global Health Initiative grant to support two maternal and child health projects in Atlanta this summer: a volunteer doula program and research on pregnancy spacing messaging. The student team is comprised of two Master in Public Health students, Kristen Liberty and Mariana Gutierrez, one undergraduate student, Salma Mohamed, and one Family Nurse Practitioner Certified Nurse Midwifery student, Dani Bulinksi. 

Grady Memorial Hospital Labor and Delivery staff recently identified an opportunity to increase labor support for women delivering at Grady Hospital. Research suggests that women with continuous, emotional support during childbirth have shorter labors and are less likely to characterize their childbirth as a negative experience and less likely to experience an intervention, such as Cesarean birth or instrumental vaginal birth. Many hospitals in the United States are expanding their Labor and Delivery services to include doula-trained volunteers or paid staff for their patients, including the North Carolina Women’s Hospital and San Francisco General Hospital. This summer, the UHI student team has worked closely with Grady Labor and Delivery to provide research, resources, and program development support for a volunteer labor doula program. In addition to building a larger program at Grady, the UHI student team trained as labor support doulas through CAPPA-Childbirth and Postpartum Professional Association and is providing volunteer doula support to women in Atlanta. So far, the team has supported four women through labor and delivery.

Upcoming Events

CLSM Community Engagement Day

Community Learning and Social Medicine Community Engagement Day will be held Tuesday, August 21 from 1:30-4:30 pm in the SOM lobby and WHSCAB Auditorium. More details available here.

Urban Health Initiative Fall Semester Information Session and Orientation

The UHI invites all current and future members and partners to join us for our Fall 2018 introduction and orientation on Monday, October 1st, SOM 120 from 5:30-8:30 pm. Learn about the work we do, our plans for this year, and how you can be involved. Pizza dinner will be provided. Details and RSVP information available here.

News from the Garden

Pictured above: Squash plants thriving in the UHI Community Garden

The UHI Community Garden has a new location in the parking lot of the Laundry Center in west Atlanta.  The garden relocated this past January from a nearby MARTA station after that property was sold.  Since relocating, our Garden community partner, Brandon, has overseen the construction of 14 raised box beds for a variety of fruits and vegetables, including different kinds of leafy greens, tomatoes, carrots, onions, herbs, blueberries, and strawberries.  On Monday evenings, the garden holds a program to teach middle- and high-school students agricultural education as well as business and leadership skills.  The agricultural education curriculum is designed to complement school curriculum and allow students to apply knowledge learned in the classroom to the real world.  During the school year, 10-15 students come out to the garden to learn about the plants and how to care for them. 

Starting in June, Thursday mornings are designated for members of the local community to visit the garden to harvest a few pounds of fresh produce to take home.  The garden has many future plans, not only to expand the garden, but also to expand current programs and add new ones.  The entire parking lot is available for expansion, which means the garden could expand to include around 64 raised beds.  Future garden projects include establishing a water source for the plants and painting the raised bed boxes.  Joan Wilson, MS, FACHE, UHI’s Assistant Director, hopes to hold a bike clinic at the garden this summer.  The bike clinic would benefit local children by providing small fixes to their bikes.  A program for seniors was held at the previous garden location, and Ms. Wilson hopes to start holding it at the new location as well.  This program brings together medical students from Emory with seniors living in an independent living residence once a month to discuss a topic of the seniors’ choice, like heart disease and healthy nutrition.

The community garden is always looking for volunteers and financial support. Donations can be made on our website. Please contact Joan Wilson at joan.wilson@emory.edu if you would like more information.

- Malinda Gowin

Community Partners

The Center for Black Women’s Wellness (CBWW) is an Atlanta non-profit committed to improving the lives of Black women and their families through supporting mental, physical and economic well-being. For the last 30 years, CBWW has utilized a self-help model based on the belief that women have the power within themselves to address the challenges they face. Through ensuring consistent access to services across multiple stages of life, CBWW empowers women to harness their inner strength and maximize their potential for wellness. Supporting a woman’s desire for wellness ultimately strengthens the well-being of her family and thus, her community. The organization’s family service center offers women’s healthcare, a safety-net clinic, youth development programs, and economic self-sufficiency workshops. Jemea Dorsey, the Center for Black Women’s Wellness President and CEO, identified financial sustainability and growth as the organization’s emphasis in 2018. CBWW hopes to expand their healthcare services to more uninsured or underinsured women and families, as well as continue to strengthen partnerships with local organizations, including the Urban Health Initiative, to ensure sustainable access to healthcare and services. 

Upcoming Events/Opportunities

• Community Breast Health Events: Low-cost mobile mammograms for uninsured, underinsured women, 35+ years old, and not previously diagnosed with breast cancer. @ Dunbar Neighborhood Center
  •  Dates: 
    • Tuesday, August 21st 
    • Friday, September 21st 
    • Monday, October 8th 

• Ongoing, year-round breast health educational seminars

Carolyn Aidman, PhD earns Cappa International Labor Doula Certification

Urban Health Initiative Associate Director Carolyn Aidman, PhD, has received her designation as a Cappa International Certified Labor Doula. Dr. Aidman studied, passed multiple-choice and essay exams, read a variety of books, and provided continuous quality care for women during labor and delivery over the past two years.

Although her Cappa certification is new, Dr. Aidman has been a birth team member for many years. She became a certified doula with Before and After Birth. Over the years, she has supported girls and women through 18 deliveries by obstetricians and midwives, including 2 sets of twins. Dr. Aidman has been doing this work so long, her first baby is now 48 years old. Congratulations on your most recent certification, Dr. Aidman!

Pictured below: Camille, whose birth was one of the deliveries Aidman supported as part of her Cappa certification.

UHI Staff news

volunteers.” Ms. Strid studied biology and chemistry at Lewis University in Romeoville, IL. She decided to pursue her MPH in epidemiology after witnessing the power of epidemiology and biostatistics at the Summer Institute for Training in Biostatistics at Emory; she believes we can treat individuals’ health more effectively through understanding health at a population level. Ms. Strid’s thesis investigated academic outcomes among children with congenital heart disease through a paired sibling study. While at Rollins, she completed the Human Rights Certificate and worked on projects with the Needlestick Prevention Center, Friends of Refugees, and the Department of Rheumatology at Grady Hospital. After graduation, Ms. Strid plans to combine her laboratory and biomedical science background with her data analytic skills to battle healthcare associated infections due to antibiotic resistant organisms. We appreciate everything that she has done to grow and support the UHI and we wish her the best of luck as she moves on to new and ex citing endeavors! Good luck, Penelope!

When did you realize public health was your passion? After learning about health disparities in my hometown, I became passionate about public health. When my local hospital was ranked the worst hospital in the US in 2012, I launched a Let’s Move Campaign in partnership with the City of Manning to encourage healthier lifestyles and never looked back.

What led you to Emory Urban Health Initiative? My passion to work with the underserved population.

What do you look forward to most at the start of each work day? I look forward to doing something different every day. Whether it’s working on planning an event, health career academy, or a new program, I love working on new opportunities.

What has been your favorite part about being Program and Research Manager? My favorite part is being the change I want to see in the world by working with the underserved.

What has been the greatest challenge in your role? The greatest challenge was finances. I am thankful for our financial analyst for being patient and teaching me the different systems and mechanisms.

Where do you see yourself in the next 5 years supported by your experience with Urban Health Initiative? I hope to have a senior level management position.

If you could secure one resource (currently considered scarce) for UHI stakeholders and community, what would it be and how would you position it to do the most good for the most people? My dream is to secure funding to increase mental health access to the underserved community. Partnering with HEALing Community Center and providing mental health services would be an asset to the community.

Would you mind sharing more of your personal story and how it relates to your passion to serve indigent populations? I was misdiagnosed at my local hospital my freshman year in high school. I had an extremely deep cut in my ankle and had to get 5 stitches. I was then ordered to take physical therapy. I was a decent basketball player and had the opportunity to play with varsity. I was also lifting weights with my team not knowing I had torn my Achilles tendon. I had a horrible limp and went to get a second opinion in a different county. They immediately diagnosed me with a torn Achilles tendon and scheduled surgery. My Achilles tendon had moved 2 inches from my bone and I had to have intensive surgery. At an early age, I learned how your zip code can affect your health outcome.

A warm UHI welcome to new staff and volunteers!

Chelsea McCune is the UHI's new Operations Manager. She has a BA in Sociology from Emory and expects to complete her MPH at Purdue University Global in 2019. Ms. McCune is passionate about improving education and health systems for underserved populations in the United States and abroad.

Shruthi Mohan is working with the Cancer Sniffing/Identification Dogs Project. She is a junior at Emory College, pursuing a B.S. in Neuroscience and Behavioral Biology. Ms. Mohan is interested in the intersection between medicine and public health and she has a passion for community service.

Apexa Patel is working with the HEALing Community Center and the Ponce Clinic in several oral health projects. She earned her BS in Dental Surgery in India and  is pursuing a Master of Public Health degree in epidemiology at Georgia State University.  Ms. Patel is passionate about dentistry & dental public health and working to increase oral health care access for people who are uninsured, homeless or under-served.