Part 2 with Olatorera Adeniji

In this episode Lane County Public Health's Olatorera Adeniji talks about what the new Community Partnership Program does with our communities.

For more information visits the Lane County Public Health's website. 

To find out more about White Bird Clinic, visit whitebirdclinic.org.

Transcript

Hana Francis: 0:12

You're listening to white bird mutual aid. I'm Hana Francis. This episode is part two of a conversation with Olatorera Adeniji, a person who works for Lane County Public Health and their new Community Partnerships Program. Last episode, we spoke a little about what public health is. And in this episode, we explore more of what this program does in the community, our program,

Olatorera Adeniji: 0:38

community partnerships came from this idea of really trying to evolve the way that public health currently is, and to really having it be more community focused and community centered and led

Hana Francis: 0:54

folks living without a house are a section of our community that have been marginalized; currently, and historically left out of many conversations, the Community Partnerships Program works to strengthen connections and get a better idea of how to get health needs met for these folks,

Olatorera Adeniji: 1:09

we're working with the houseless community, most specifically, as far as COVID, goes, is really going out to encampments, and establishing relationships with carry it forward and black Fussel, and, you know, providing resources. Whatever type of, you know, care we can on the ground, I would like to see, I'm sure that I would like to see more work done. And I know that we can do more work. As far as house lessness goes, as well. We have a couple of different programs. You know, that can help folks, you have a dovetail program, which isn't necessarily for house lessness. But it's to connect folks to resources, resources that could be experiencing homelessness within the community. But yeah, I, like I said, our HR team hasn't, we haven't hired everyone yet. And I don't know what exactly the scope is going to look like. I know that Community Partnerships Program, we'll be working closely with them. And so I'm excited to see what that looks like and how we can really start to add that work in a more meaningful way to the work that we do. Because, yeah, we got a, we got a severe houseless problem here.

Hana Francis: 2:42

White Bird Clinic has worked with the Community Partnerships Program, and hopes to further the mission of creating and strengthening connections with those who are in need in our community. Throughout the pandemic response White Bird Clinic and Community Partnerships worked together.

Olatorera Adeniji: 2:58

Early in the response, we did some we did a meeting about mobile services, and White Bird was getting the mobile unit and the vans. So we were trying really to get a situational understanding of who was doing what work, not trying to step on anyone's toes, but then also be able to pair the services with the community. Right. So there was one event that we've done several events with White Bird. But a lot of the time, one of the lessons that comes to mind as I think that white bird was serving the 18th and over community and there were some kiddos that were identified that wanted to be at an event, I think it was being helped by center. And so we paired with white bird, and with center to be able to provide vaccines for kiddos under 18. So we kind of like have complemented services with them. As well as also shouting from the rooftops whenever you guys have different community events that we're going to or that you were hosting. I know you guys worked well with burrito brigade to you know, pass out food and there was some collaboration with a dental clinic that you guys did. And so yeah, we definitely have collaborated before. already. You guys are great partners, we hope to continue to collaborate with you going forward to

Hana Francis: 4:23

I'm super stoked to see all this collaboration happening in the community. And also I'm super stoked to see your sort of facilitation of the collaboration. Because I think I said it last time but like, there's so many good people in Eugene and Oregon too, who are like really just trying to help each other out. But it's it's really hard when everyone's so wrapped up and just delivering the direct service. And so it's it's really awesome to see someone facilitating those organizations and the communities themselves and Yeah, thanks for doing the work you do. incredibly valuable. And I don't need to tell you that. But

Olatorera Adeniji: 5:09

thanks. It's I mean, it's exciting. I think I read somewhere that like Eugene Lang County has like the most CBOs per capita in the state. And that's just wild to me, because you constantly hear about CBOs. And, you know, Portland doing the work with the pano and nya. And so just to be able to support whatever type of community synergy is here, and to create that kind of community impact of aligning our services and CO branding with one another, we hope to make a bigger, stronger impact together, then all divided, you know, because unfortunately, resources can be limited, and we can't all do the same thing. So just having the situational awareness of knowing who's doing what, which services are already being provided, and how to connect folks to those resources, has just been super powerful. And to watch it in action is really cool of someone being like, hey, we have this program, or we have this service, and then three or four other organizations that oh, we don't do that. But we'd love to can we have new come over, and then they plan the thing. And then it's just, it's really amazing. It's really cool.

Hana Francis: 6:23

So what does creating these connections and community actually look like? Community Partnerships does a lot of things, including outreach community events, promoting other organizations events, and facilitating meetings and discussions with community.

Olatorera Adeniji: 6:38

So if you go to link, the link County Public Health website, there's no longer a banner that says Coronavirus, but if you go in and to our communicable disease clinic, web training page, there is a way for you to schedule vaccinations through that if you want to actually come downtown to channel 10. That's where our office is located. We also have community events where we can where we collaborate. And so that'll look like us showing up to man, surely your centro. And they are essentially hosting the vaccine clinic. You know, gathering, we're just there providing the vaccine and the technical assistance and, you know, the staff that needs to administer the vaccine. So a lot of those CBO. Clinics are actually kind of fun. Sometimes they have music, sometimes they have food, sometimes they have other events going on the ark has been doing sensory friendly events for kiddos that might have developmental disabilities. And so they're seeing a lot of progress with folks where I mean, sometimes it takes up to an hour to get kiddos and families ready to get vaccinated. And like that just isn't possible with a drive to clinic with you have to be onboard and ready and kind of understand that there's going to be a process and you just have to flip through. That doesn't work for everyone so really impressed the Ark being able to take this experience that we all have to go through. And they have bouncy houses, they send kids home, or they send families home food. You know, they eat pizza and popcorn. And it's more of like a family wellness event. And now we have COVID vaccines, so it kind of lessens the pressure. So there's different organizations that you can get plugged into if you aren't that are hosting vaccination events like the ark, I said, Centro host events naturally host events for baby peds. So if you have kids that are like six months to like four years, that's a good place that they're their boutique that they have downtown. You can also go onto our website. And we have a list of all the places that our COVID outreach team goes to. We're at Bethesda church a lot in Eugene. We're at the Springfield and Eugene bus stations. We're also at the library quite frequently. And the schedule is updated and maintained. So you can go there and check out where we're going to be. We're also re establishing a clinic at the valley River Center. And there will be COVID vaccines, there's an also flu vaccines. So that'll be nice. And a lot of these places are walking in no appointment necessary. You might have to wait a little longer, but you know, they're free. You don't have to have insurance. Nobody's going to ask you for documentation, which is another barrier that we've discovered and learned from folks that a lot of pharmacies, you know, are asking for insurance information and that could be a barrier folks. Not everybody has insurance. surance we know a lot of folks are without insurance or underinsured, specifically in Latinx, bipoc communities, we had conversations with folks, you know, just worried about being, you know, immigrant immigrant status being a problem. And like at our clinic, so all of our link County Public Health Clinics, that is not a problem, your status won't be checked, we won't ask for any of that documentation. So it's a safer place in a lot of people's minds to go get these vaccines, because we aren't going to ask those questions. And you can get in and get out and have minimal, hopefully, you know, information sharing as much as possible. Let's see where else. So we also have our CBO newsletter, which we talked about, which goes out every two weeks or so we're trying to read cadence for that. But it has a lot of information. So it has all the list of the information of where we're going to be as far as testing, and COVID clinics are, and that's on there every episode or every, every edition. So you can look there to find out where we're going to be. We also in the newsletter, we do a what's new, which is kind of like, you know, new updates that we're hearing from Oh Ha, about, you know, messaging, Max guidance or what's happening with COVID. So we give a brief overview, then we do a community conversation section, which is really kind of coming off of the messaging that we're hearing directly from our black leaders meeting that happens every other week on Tuesday afternoon. So if you're a black leader stakeholders are and the community pillar of the community are just interested in knowing what you can do to help serve your communities and African American and black folk. Get a hold of me. We have a great group of folks that get together on Tuesdays. But a lot of that messaging and a lot of that conversation we then take to our internal messaging meeting that happens. And we find the answers to the questions. Like specifically, we've been working with NAACP and they just wanted some messaging that was just supporting the idea that monkeypox wasn't necessarily a disease endemic to gay folks. So we were able to just come up with some messaging that handling County Public Health, no stamp of approval on it, that they could just put on their desk. So when folks come in, it can be there with all of the other pamphlets and all of the other messaging information they have. So we really cherish those spaces, because they're able to allow us to craft messaging that actually the community wants and needs. And it serves as like a two way street of us saying like, Okay, well, here's the message is coming. Now, how does that work for you? If not, what are the questions that you guys really need to know the answer to. And then we also have a section in there called demystifying data, which are epidemiologist breaks down some very just some key terms and aspects that are often brought up in data to really kind of like help you understand how to access the information or the dashboards to get the data. And to try and familiar, familiarize yourself with it in a way that's not so overwhelming data scary and overwhelming sometimes. So the more that we can kind of familiarize ourselves with it and get to know the language that the folks in government are speaking, the better way, you know, a better way for us to be able to interact with information and work off of the data that we find necessary to help our communities thrive. So that's the newsletter. And then we also have two meetings. We have a meeting that's held by Oh Ha. And so we have a representative Mina Craig was our district supino representative. And it's nice to have her have direct messaging from Oh Ha, also, we can ask her questions. So this kind of started out in our COVID response, these meetings of folks getting together to do information sharing, resource sharing, and to understand what messaging was coming from Oh ha regarding COVID In order to keep our community safe, and not that the pandemic is over in any way, shape, or form. But there's just been an overwhelming push to keep these spaces going. Past COVID funding, and so it's been nice to have someone from OHSU there be able to answer fiscal questions, be able to answer messaging questions, and then being able to find answers to questions that they may not have.

Hana Francis: 14:53

So that that wasn't really like a piece of how all that worked before like there was It seems like there wasn't as much back and forth before the pandemic.

Olatorera Adeniji: 15:04

Yeah, no, there wasn't it was really more of a one way communication. I'm like, This is what's happening. And so that through that group, it was actually like our public information officer that and with the mix of COVID funding, so there are certain CBOs that we're getting wraparound funding for Oh, ha, he applied for grants, they had been established as community based organizations that are going to help provide food boxes and wraparound services, right. So from that group, it's just kind of grown exponentially of folks that aren't involved with any wraparound services don't have the COVID funding or money, but they just want to know where the resources are. So it's been a nice way to really just keep folks together. And I feel like that's how we help with mutual aid is we just maintain the spaces for folks to get together to share the information that's already being done. And it's been really super helpful, like you said, and in creating a two way communication, and helping those messages that we hear from the community really shape and form our messaging that goes out.

Hana Francis: 16:14

Wow, that's, that's really awesome. And how can people get involved with that, um, or being a part of that meeting as well?

Olatorera Adeniji: 16:24

Right on? Yeah, so if you are serving a community based organization, within Linn County, you're welcome to any of the spaces that I mentioned. I said there's meetings every other week. One of them Ha, and then one hosted with Lane County Public Health, the Lane County Public Health meeting seems to be a little bit more populated. The OmHa meeting kind of started out, like I said, with folks getting funded, and as grown. But the LCH meeting was great, because we have different folks like within Lane County public health departments come and give short presentations about the services that we offer. So just to kind of familiarize, like what's going on in public health. So like I said, if you're serving a CBO, you in Linn County, you can message me at my email, and I can give that to you, Hannah. This is my first and last name. But I'll keep it in the notes. It's probably hard, but bullets are that energy at DOT identity at Linn County gov.org. And yeah, if you send me an email, we can get you on to the invite list. And you can start getting the CBO newsletter and you can start coming to our meetings. No fee, there's no requirement, you just have to want to help your community.

Hana Francis: 17:56

I would hope that you have a lot of support and tackling those issues, but I also imagine that it's pretty challenging to address them. So. So what are the main challenges or obstacles to your

Olatorera Adeniji: 18:11

work that you experience? Um, I would say that, I'll just say the obvious, working with the core folks that are really committed to anti racist values and anti racist work isn't like the norm, especially working within government. So having kind of this transformative, really honestly, like abolitionist principled work in a space that isn't really like that. It can be interesting. It's challenging. So like I said, I'm very fortunate and glad for our team that we have. Because we're authentic. We're curious for kind, we show up to work wholehearted, and even though we're a small team, it's nice to be on the same page with everyone and know that our decisions are supported, you know, wholeheartedly by our team members. And we hope that doing the work in a way that is anti racist, and that is abolitionist, hopefully, that we will become infectious. And folks will start to lead from those principles as well. I mean, it's very idealistic in this vision, you know, and I don't know that it's going to happen overnight. I don't know that it'll happen in my lifetime. But eventually, I would like to see us all working from that same place. And you know, work hanging in a place in Lane County. In Oregon, that was set up as like a white utopicvstate, you're going to have folks that are not going to understand or appreciate the work you do, especially when it's anti racist, abolitionists. Thankfully, we have great support from our public health administrator or leadership. We have great support within our department. And in cross departmental Lee, as far as you know, the support on our language and our mission, vision and values, and really calling out white supremacy and genocide. And so it's amazing to know that the work we're doing is our hearts work. But also know that it's supported by our colleagues is, is nice. We're still in our infant stages, phases. Like I said, we've just started a year ago. So there's gonna be bumps and bruises. But to know that, you know, Community Partnerships Program is also built into the strategic plan for Lane County. And we're also getting funding from Oregon Health Authority through public health modernization. So it feels nice to be able to say yeah, and we've got the backing from the commissioners, and we've got the backing from the state. So hopefully, this isn't just something that is like a fly by night situation. And to be honest, I hope that my job and my position in this program becomes obsolete eventually, after I've worked, you know, here 20 years. So that like the our mission and values become super endemic within public health that we just start to work from this community driven and community led way all the time. And not just when we remember to or when we feel like it's convenient. So no one's having to say like being upstream folks and swimming against you know, the current and new ways of ideology and anti racism is difficult, but it's not inevitable. And yeah, this is precious work and I'm excited about

Hana Francis: 22:20

thanks to Olatorera Adeniji for participating in this episode, and for her important work with our community. If you have any questions or comments, please email me at whitebirdmutualaid@gmail.com or reach out to me through Buzzsprout thanks for listening to white bird mutual aid. I'm Hana Francis.