Volume 1, Issue 11 | November/December 2022
Our Monthly News & Updates
COPE @ APHA!
The COPE team and our community partners, Sarah Foreman and Susan Lukwago traveled to Boston to present at the American Public Health Association (APHA) conference. Thanks to Christina Pacheco and Mariana Ramírez for being our reporters on the ground. Enjoy our photo collage!
First row: Christina Pacheco is seen between her parents with Ton Miras Miras Neira standing on the far right
Second row (L-R): Sarah Foreman presenting how Liberal, Kansas leverages community-academic partnerships to enhance equity work; Pacheco, Sarah Kessler and Miras Neira in front of the poster about engaging local communities to respond to COVID-19
Third row (L-R): Pacheco presenting the role LHEAT in COPE; A packed room where Miras Neira presented CHW trainings; Celebrating 150 years of APHA; Kristina Bridges presenting clinicians' understanding of vaccination practices
Last row (L-R): Miras Neira at a round table discussion; Pacheco, Mariana Ramírez and Miras Neira at the poster about Latinos' attitudes toward vaccination; A view of the audiences in Foreman's presentation; Miras Neira presenting
Brown-Jackson LHEAT Delights Families with A Thanksgiving Theme 🍂 Resource Fair
On November 19, Brown-Jackson residents attended a Thanksgiving theme resource fair where free coats, hats and gloves were available for families. Kansas Gas had staff on-site to support LIEAP (Low Income Energy Assistance Program) applications. NEK Multi-County Health Department also supplied flu vaccines. The LHEAT posted the event and more happenings on its Brown-Jackson county's COPE Facebook page.
Crawford County LHEAT Invites Unsheltered Residents to Share Their Top 10 Barriers 🗣️
How do you invite those experiencing homelessness to come and share their opinions? Creating a judgment-free space that brings comfort and dignity to unhoused individuals is precisely what Crawford County LHEAT had in mind in its "Food for Your Thoughts: You Talk, We Listen!" town hall.

On November 15 the LHEAT asked 25 attendees to share their barriers and experiences. To promote the town hall, CHWs with a home base in CHC/SEK created the flyer (above left), which was strategically promoted via a day shelter, fast food restaurants, banks, motels, churches and libraries. To facilitate discussions and to support the needs of unhoused individuals, LHEAT also provided quality winter item giveaways and transportation. Transportation services included a route between the shelter and town hall location and three drop-off locations after the conversations. Lessons learned from the town hall will be incorporated into an upcoming project.

Courtesy photos: Colette Lee
👶🏿Fighting for Birth Equity in Shawnee County👶🏾
On November 4, Shawnee County LHEAT hosted a panel to examine infant mortality and the path toward equitable birth outcomes. With a full house in attendance, the panel spotlighted the causes of maternal morbidity, disparities experienced by minority women and solutions to raise equity. The discussion was facilitated by Regina Platt and featured experts in birth equity, including Dr. Sharla Smith (Associate Professor, KU Medical Center), Sapphire Garcia-Lies (Executive Director, Kansas Birth Justice), Abriona Markham (Topeka Doula Project Inc.) and Phelica A. Glass - LSCSW, GCCAC, FAAGC, CSOTP, SPARC (Clinical Social Work and Therapist). Annette Billings, a former nurse and poet, performed her work at the panel.

The LHEAT also provided $5,000 in funding to support the Topeka Doula Project, which improves birth experiences and outcomes and provides a doula to someone in need.

Courtesy photos: Christina Pacheco
🧑🏻‍⚕️ Health Insurance Enrollment In High Gear
Sedgwick County CHW Thien Doan with a home base in GraceMed is seen here at Dong Huong Asian Market in Wichita answering questions about 2023 ACA Health Insurance enrollment. Thanks to Doan, four individuals started their applications for ACA, Medicare or Medicaid.

Check out the Sedgwick team's Facebook page where Doan also posts regularly. The team's recent activity also included a COVID-19 vaccine mobile clinic in partnership with Sedgwick County Health Department and Saint Mark United Methodist Church. 25 people received vaccines. Doan also talked to 15 perspective clients for COPE.
Halloween 🎃 Album
The release date of our last newsletter preceded Halloween. But, we know everyone loves a good holiday celebration. This photo album features various official and unofficial activities, including COPE pets in costumes! Enjoy!
Sedgwick County CHWs handed out 336 items of socks, gloves, hats, and scarfs to families during the Trunk Or Treat at the Oaklawn Improvement District. The team also shared brief information about COPE and handed out 80 brochures to parents. 
Photos (L to R): Lukwago in ice cream costume; Seward County team in action.
Courtesy photos: Tien Doan, Christina Pacheco, Ruaa Hassaballa-Muhammad, Clarissa Carrillo Martinez
Team Activities
Great Bend Pride + Barton County LHEAT in Action!
The COPE leadership team visited Barton County and joined its LHEAT meeting. The team is also pictured here at the Great Bend signpost.

Courtesy photos: Tien Doan, Christina Pacheco
Kristina Bridges and Ian Knight met up for coffee during Bridges' visit to Phoenix for her presentation at the North American Primary Care Research Group (NAPCRG). Our team always takes this opportunity to connect with each other, no matter how far apart we are.
Member Spotlight
Each month we highlight and celebrate COPE members who have rich lived experiences and stories that humble us daily.

This month we spotlight Bonnie Jameson, a Crawford County CHW with a home base in CHC/SEK. This is Jameson's story, as shared by Colette Lee (Manager of Patient Engagement with CHC/SEK).

Bonnie Jameson may have saved an older gentleman's life. This unsheltered gentleman recently experienced homelessness for the very first time at an advanced age. In early November, he showed up at Wesley House Day Shelter. Conversations made it apparent to the COPE team that he knew very little about surviving on the streets.

Jameson started to share resources and became fast friends with this gentleman. Although the gentleman promised Jameson that he would return to the day shelter on a Monday, he was nowhere to be found. Another day shelter client told Jameson later that this gentleman had experienced incontinent episodes throughout the weekend and was in dire need of cleanup.
After some efforts, Jameson found the gentleman. He was persuaded to come into the day shelter to clean up and to take a shower.

But, Jameson noticed something was wrong. The gentleman's color was not normal. Trained to stay alert, Jameson kept a watchful eye on him. Soon after he stepped into the shower, she heard him collapse.

Rushing to check on him, Jameson immediately called a paramedic on duty at the day shelter. He was admitted to the ICU at a local hospital and received a pacemaker after 12 hours of hospitalization.

On his way to recovery, this gentleman told Jameson that he was grateful to see her. In coordination with a social worker from the hospital, Jameson is working to place him in an assisted living facility or skilled nursing facility.

In Jameson, we saw compassion and care above and beyond what her position calls for.
Worthy of Note
Congratulations to Montgomery LHEAT on exceeding its 6 month goal! The grant from LHEAT enabled Caney-Valley Agape Network & Food Pantry to increase its contact of social services to 69 family services (19 family services more than the goal of 50). Thanks to Dorothy Shaffer for sharing the information with us.
Check out this 8-minute video that features Ton Miras Neira (who first appeared in the 0:58 marker)!

Created by the KC Regional Community Health Worker Collaborative and promoted through Mid America Regional Council, this video educates potential employers about what CHWs can do.
Dr. Ellerbeck x Geary County: Special Collaboration on Hypertension Awareness
In partnership with Geary County CHWs and VFW Post 8773, Dr. Edward (Ed) Ellerbeck and his colleague, Dr. Gupta, gave a hypertension awareness education series on October 29. They discussed safety measures and how to take hypertension into control.
Quote of the Month
"You shatter stigma by empathically telling a story that enables people to understand those unlike them. And then you realize, through that unlikeness, you find the likeness." - Janet Mock
Janet Mock has blazed trails as the first trans woman of color to write and direct a TV ep and the first out trans woman to ink a multimillion-dollar deal with a major content company. But the "Pose" writer, director, and producer doesn't just want to make strides in her career: she also wants her career to make strides in the LGBTQ community. In an interview with Deadline, Mock revealed her goal on "Pose" is to "shatter stigma. Set in the ballroom culture of '90s New York City, the drama centers predominantly on queer people of color, some of whom are HIV-positive. 
(As written by Rachel Montpelier of WomenandHollywood.com)
December is HIV/AIDS Awareness Month
The first published report of HIV appeared in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report in June 1981. When these initial cases emerged, very little was known about the disease. The disease did not have an agreed-upon name, researchers had not yet determined what caused it, there were no tests or recognized treatments, and by the time most patients presented with symptoms, they had only months to live. Fast forward to 2022, and approximately 38 million people are currently living with HIV, and tens of millions of people have died of AIDS-related causes since the beginning of the epidemic. Once seen as a death sentence, breakthroughs in treatment have extended the lives of those affected by the disease and even cured some. See how far we've come in the fight against HIV/Aids.
㊙️ Fun fact, did you know one of our own specializes in HIV research? Check out some of their work here
✔️ Have you or anyone you know recently been diagnosed with HIV and have questions about treatment? Download and Print this handy fact sheet to know your options and how it works.
🔎 Looking for quick graphics to share about HIV/AIDS? Check out these handy visuals. They come in English and Spanish.
Find out what it's like, living with HIV. Discover the advancements in treatment as told by those currently living with the disease.
COPE Newsletter Archives
Missed our prior issues? Want to share our work with community partners? Links to prior issues below.

Issue 1 (January 2022): Welcome to the COPE Family!