The Immigrant Memory Collaborative launches dementia Booklet
The Immigrant Memory Collaborative (IMC) recently launched a booklet detailing the results of their study on Dementia within African Immigra
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HEALTH EQUITY
ACER's Health Equity work seeks to close the health disparities within our community by addressing the social determinants of health. Through partnerships and engagement with community members, our team aims to address the issues that result in unfairly detrimental health outcomes for BIPOC communities within the Northwestern suburbs.
Continuing Health Initiatives
African Memory Loss Project
The community-responsive partnership between ACER and the Families and Long-Term Care Projects (FLTC) of the University of Minnesota School of Public Health enables an understanding of the lived experiences and extent of dementia care needs and resources among African immigrants in the Twin Cities. The African immigrant community in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area is growing rapidly, and yet the dementia care needs and resources of this community remain largely unknown. The goal of this project is to provide information on current dementia knowledge, caregiving practices, and healthcare utilization which will inform the development of culturally tailored community-level health promotion efforts to enhance dementia knowledge, education, and healthcare services. Update: The study conducted in 2020-2021 is based on a culturally-sensitive community conversation around dementia. The results are out and have been disseminated to the community, interesting findings include the lack of a name for dementia amongst Africans and the myths and stigma associated with the condition. The positive findings are the community resources the participants shared with the team as well as their eagerness to share these resources with the community. The results of the study bore the African Immigrant Dementia Education Project. The pilot group will receive culturally-tailored dementia education. Communities are invited to inquire about dementia education by contacting ACER: email africanmem2021@umn.edu or call 612-624-3904
Current Health Initiatives
Health On The Go
The Health on the Go (HOTG) initiative is an effort to create a better-coordinated ecosystem of public health players to improve access to needed services. The HOTG collaborative consists of Brooklyn Park City, Brooklyn Center City, Hennepin County Public Health, BCCS Health Resource Centre, ACER, COPAL, CAPI, and Siengkane Lao. Modeled after the successful “Rec on the Go'' program, the crux of the HOTG efforts is to develop mobile clinics where critical healthcare services such as immunization clinics, screening services, youth-specific dental check-ups, dental kits, testing kits, health education, etc are brought to community spaces. The HOTG initiatives were developed with holistic care in mind, creating a hub for essential resources such as culturally specific food, rental assistance, eviction prevention, transportation assistance (free metro cards), winter supplies, back-to-school supplies, etc. After the pilot phase of the project, ACER carried out the role of convener and facilitator to develop a Community of Practice to improve the coordination of services among the cities, county, and community organizations while increasing the ability of vulnerable individuals and households to find resources and improve their health outcomes. For questions or collaboration, contact: asasikumar@acerinc.org.
HEALTH EQUITY STORIES
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