Local collaborations promote health access for a global community

The Maine Migrant Health Program (MMHP) and Somali Culture and Development Association (SCDA) are two organizations serving minority, vulnerable populations in Maine, especially migrant farmworkers, Latino immigrants, and African/Middle Eastern refugees/asylees. Both were awarded a Maine Health Access Foundation (MeHAF) grant supporting coordinated outreach to uninsured and medically underserved people about the benefits available through the Affordable Care Act. The work is in partnership with nine additional Maine organizations collaborating to provide each other with technical support, resources and policy expertise. MeHAF' s professional consulting assistance leads the planning /implementation of a coordinated outreach process to educate Maine's young adults, seniors, low-income, immigrant and others without insurance or access to quality health care. The partnerships encourage collaboration with other community organizations to ensure a broad and comprehensive approach to achieve health equity, including a CBPR project with University of New England. Together, the organizations identify appropriate messages and outreach strategies, vetted by community members. Messages accommodate culturally and linguistically appropriate low-literacy needs. Flowcharts and pictograms help clients understand information. Outreach practices include presentations by trusted individuals in natural settings-- community meetings, religious settings, one-on-one home visits. By adapting outreach strategies from the wider MeHAF project, members from Maine's global community gain tools for healthcare access through the local health care system. Evaluation includes qualitative measures -- personal stories from consumers and outreach staff regarding the relevancy and usefulness of the messages. Work with UNE will inform the development of quantitative measurement to evaluate the effectiveness of outreach and education.