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Health & Human Services Department | 389 Congress Street | Portland, Maine 04101 | (207) 874-8633

minority health program staff:

Kolawole Bankole, M.D., M.S.
Minority Health Program Coordinator/Access Project Director
Public Health Division, HHS Department
City of Portland
389 Congress Street
Portland, ME 04101
Tel 207-874-8773
Fax 207.874.8913
Email: bak@portlandmaine.gov

Lynn Doxey, MPH
Minority Health Program Specialist
Public Health Division, HHS Department
City of Portland
389 Congress Street
Portland, ME 04101
Tel 207-874-8962
Fax 207.874.8913
Email: ldoxey@portlandmaine.gov

Nelida Berke
Community Health Outreach Worker
(Central and South America/ Latino Communities)
Public Health Division, HHS Department
City of Portland
389 Congress Street
Portland, ME 04101
Tel 207-874-8452
Fax 207-874-8913
Email: nrb@portlandmaine.gov

Deqa Dhalac
Community Health Outreach Worker
(Somali/ Sudanese Community)
Minority Health Program
Public Health Division, HHS Department
City of Portland
389 Congress Street
Portland, ME 04101
Tel 207-874-8943
Fax 207-874-8913
Email: ddhalac@portlandmaine.gov

minority health program

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	Current Projects
	Minority Population Served
	Objectives

The Minority Health Program (MHP) of the Public Health Division, Health and Human Services Department, and City of Portland was established to help address the health related issues and needs of all minority communities in the Greater Portland area.

MHP links people to needed services and improves the communities’ health status through Community Health Outreach Workers (CHOWs) and community partnerships.

Minority Populations Served

• Khmer
• Arabic
• Spanish
• Acholi
• Somali
• Serbian/Croatian
• Vietnamese
• Nuer
• French
• Chinese
• Russian

The MHP is guided by a vision of a healthy community in which:

• Diversity within the community is respected and valued by community members and institutions
• Everyone has access to quality health and social services
• Everyone has access to resources and conditions required for a healthy lifestyle
• Institutions and policy makers are responsive to community residents
• The assets and gifts of community residents are acknowledged and shared
• MHP work is conducted in partnership with community organizations and service providers to identify and address health priorities of the minority communities

MHP Objectives

1. Improve minority community health at the community, family and individual levels
2. Increase capacity of community groups to establish health and well being priorities and to implement a locally defined community health agenda.
3. Strengthen informal and formal social networks and sense of community focusing on the strengths and assets of the Portland’s largest eleven ethnic/ language groups
4. Ensure that institutions, including the Public Health Division, are more accessible and responsive to the community interests by building an integrated channel of information through the establishment of a network of community health outreach workers.
5. Active participation in health policy forums, health plans, task forces, workgroups / committees

MHP Current Projects

• ACCESS Project. MHP partners with Mercy Hospital, Maine Medical Center and Ingraham to improve health care access to the ethnic minority communities in the Greater Portland area. The project has four major components.

  1. CHOWs for the Latino and Somali communities are available weekly at five different medical sites in Portland to assist community members with their healthcare needs.
  2. MHP conducts a bi-monthly Health Care Collaborative with the purpose of educating members regarding the ongoing needs and issues in the minority communities and to improve communication and referral coordination among providers.
  3. CHOWs facilitate Community Advisory Committees in order to build trust, partnerships and to enhance community members’ program collaboration on all MHP and other providers’ activities/programs.
  4. CHOWs conduct outreach in their community to raise awareness about healthcare options and specific health care issues affecting their community.

• OSA/OPP Project. MHP is partnering with OSA to raise awareness about substance abuse in the minority communities. MHP staff will work with community based organizations to provide interpreting/translation services, client referrals, implement community forums, educational trainings and a media campaign to raise awareness about substance abuse issues in the targeted minority communities.
• Healthy Portland Project. MHP is partnering with the Healthy Portland Project to expand our current tobacco prevention campaigns to minority communities. MHP locally produces anti-smoking videos along with other tobacco prevention material will be distributed through physical activity and educational outreach program in the minority communities
• MEMA Project. MEMA has provided MHP with funding to prepare the non-English speaking population for an emergency through written and oral information on emergency preparedness. MHP designed and is in process of producing Emergency Preparedness Magnets in 8 languages which will be distributed throughout the communities. Along with the magnets, the MHP staff will conduct educational forums and outreach for the communities in their native languages.
• Stop TB Campaign. MHP’s network of CHOWs participate in the Stop TB Campaign through community health outreach and case management tracking, which include peer education, case tracking, contact tracing and follow-up.
• Video Projects: MHP creates culturally appropriate videos for health related issues. Videos on lead, asthma, orientation and tobacco-use prevention have been developed and are being shown at various meetings and events in the communities.
• Asthma Helplines: MHP continues to maintain Asthma Helplines
       o Somali Helpline 756-8177
       o Latino Helpline 756-8188
• Major Events. Each year MHP hosts an event in one of the minority communities celebrating their culture and highlighting specific health issues that are a concern in the community. Examples: Exercise for Health and Love health fair and screening and Soccer tournaments.
• Various other projects: MHP continues implementations of other various projects that target disease-prevention health promotions, such as, mental health, diabetes education/screening, cancer prevention, women/family health, oral health, and hospice health.