Heart Work: Bridging Healthcare Disparities with Compassion and Dedication

Imag­ine two peo­ple, side by side, fac­ing the same health con­cerns. They might both have dia­betes or asth­ma, but their chances of get­ting sick and even sur­viv­ing these ill­ness­es are dif­fer­ent, often based sole­ly on their race or ethnicity.

This Black His­to­ry Month, we can­not ignore the con­cern­ing real­i­ty of health dis­par­i­ties. Num­bers from the Cen­ters for Dis­ease Con­trol and Pre­ven­tion show that racial and eth­nic minor­i­ty groups through­out the Unit­ed States expe­ri­ence high­er rates of ill­ness and death across a wide range of health con­di­tions, includ­ing dia­betes, hyper­ten­sion, obe­si­ty, asth­ma, and heart dis­ease, when com­pared to their white coun­ter­parts. Addi­tion­al­ly, the life expectan­cy of non-His­pan­ic/Black Amer­i­cans is four years few­er than that of white Americans.

Local­ly, Luan­na Flagg and Maris­sa Rad­cliffe, Com­mu­ni­ty Health Work­ers at Quin­cy Med­ical Group (QMG), are active­ly address­ing these dis­par­i­ties. In col­lab­o­ra­tion with the Quin­cy ARISE Coali­tion —com­pris­ing QMG, YWCA Quin­cy, Bel­la Ease, and the Adams Coun­ty Health Depart­ment — Flagg and Rad­cliffe aim to build trust, break down bar­ri­ers, and empow­er indi­vid­u­als to man­age their health.

Though a rel­a­tive­ly new con­cept for the orga­ni­za­tion, the roles of Com­mu­ni­ty Health Work­ers were care­ful­ly con­sid­ered. Flagg, who was involved in that process, empha­sized the impor­tance of lived expe­ri­ence and gen­uine care for the community.

“We need­ed indi­vid­u­als who not only under­stood the chal­lenges but also who tru­ly cared about mak­ing a dif­fer­ence. There was a lot of research to sup­port the val­ue of hav­ing Com­mu­ni­ty Health Work­ers out in the com­mu­ni­ty,” said Flagg.

Flagg and Rad­cliffe, through their out­reach efforts, active­ly bridge health­care access gaps. They believe that gen­uine con­nec­tion is the key to progress.

“We engage in open con­ver­sa­tions, ensur­ing every­one knows we’re here with­out judg­ment. We wel­come indi­vid­u­als regard­less of their back­grounds or actions; it’s about fos­ter­ing a sup­port­ive envi­ron­ment,” said Flagg.

Each con­ver­sa­tion builds trust, and even small vic­to­ries have a sig­nif­i­cant impact. Rad­cliffe shared a per­son­al sto­ry, ​“I have some­one who calls me reg­u­lar­ly. She doesn’t have a sup­port sys­tem, but I told her, ​‘I’m your com­mu­ni­ty health work­er, I’m here for you.’ After sev­er­al con­ver­sa­tions, she final­ly took the first step and called QMG to sched­ule an appoint­ment. That’s a win.”

Health dis­par­i­ties cross many con­cerns, so that con­nec­tion and trust, they say, are impor­tant to seek the root issue or concern.

Flagg shared, ​“One dis­par­i­ty I’ve seen and researched is mater­nal health. Black women are expe­ri­enc­ing high­er rates of mor­tal­i­ty com­pared to oth­er racial groups. In many ways, there’s a lack of resources being shared in cer­tain com­mu­ni­ties of color.”

She added, ​“This dis­par­i­ty leads to increased preva­lence of dis­eases, such as high­er rates of sex­u­al­ly trans­mit­ted infec­tions (STIs), obe­si­ty, and hyper­ten­sion. Many indi­vid­u­als are hes­i­tant to seek med­ical atten­tion due to fear. They not only lack access to vital infor­ma­tion but also feel uncom­fort­able enter­ing spaces where they don’t see enough rep­re­sen­ta­tion of peo­ple who look like them.”

Since they start­ed their roles in the sum­mer of 2023, they’ve been involved in var­i­ous activ­i­ties to help address these con­cerns. They took part in events like the Mul­ti-Agency Resource Cen­ter (MARC) to help peo­ple access health­care and resources like trans­porta­tion vouch­ers and air con­di­tion­ers. They teamed up with the Illi­nois Breast and Cer­vi­cal Can­cer Pro­gram (IBC­CP) and Han­cock Coun­ty Health Depart­ment to pro­vide free mam­mo­grams to Illi­nois res­i­dents with­out health insur­ance or with high-deductible plans.

They also orga­nized an HIV/AIDS Aware­ness pro­gram in col­lab­o­ra­tion with the Adams Coun­ty Health Depart­ment, offer­ing free test­ing. Addi­tion­al­ly, they part­nered with com­mu­ni­ty orga­ni­za­tions to cre­ate oppor­tu­ni­ties for dis­cus­sions on top­ics like nutri­tion, pre­ven­tive care, can­cer screen­ing, opi­oid use, and men­tal health.

Although inequities in access to and use of health­care con­tribute to dis­par­i­ties in health, inequities across broad­er social and eco­nom­ic fac­tors that dri­ve health — often referred to as social deter­mi­nants of health — also play a major role.

“One major issue we’re focused on is home­less­ness in our com­mu­ni­ty, which hits close to home for me because I’ve expe­ri­enced it myself. While not recent­ly and not to the extent of sleep­ing out­side, I under­stand the strug­gles of not hav­ing sta­ble hous­ing,” Rad­cliffe shared. ​“It’s heart-wrench­ing to see peo­ple endur­ing the ele­ments with­out shel­ter, espe­cial­ly those who still man­age to work every day but end up sleep­ing in parks because they can’t afford rent. Some may argue it’s a choice, but for many, it’s the only way they can sur­vive due to finan­cial con­straints. The strug­gle to bal­ance pay­ing for util­i­ties ver­sus main­tain­ing shel­ter is a harsh reality.”

Rad­cliffe empha­sizes under­stand­ing the cir­cum­stances indi­vid­u­als are in to effec­tive­ly sup­port them.

“It’s not just about telling them what to do but also sup­port­ing them in achiev­ing it,” she said.

Their ded­i­ca­tion goes beyond pro­fes­sion­al duties; it is root­ed in a gen­uine desire to uplift and empow­er those they serve. From pro­vid­ing a lis­ten­ing ear to advo­cat­ing for sys­temic change, Flagg and Rad­cliffe embody the spir­it of com­pas­sion and resilience.

“I tell peo­ple, I don’t care where you go get the help. Get the help. Because what I care about as your Com­mu­ni­ty Health Work­er is your health, because car­ing about your health is car­ing about you,” Rad­cliffe said. ​“One of the things that I always tell peo­ple is what we do is not hard work, it’s heart work. And even through the chal­lenges, our hearts are in it.”

To reach out to our Flagg or Rad­cliffe, call (217) 222‑6550, ext. 3418.