{"id":21374,"date":"2024-08-27T14:43:35","date_gmt":"2024-08-27T18:43:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/richmond-city\/?p=21374"},"modified":"2024-08-27T14:43:35","modified_gmt":"2024-08-27T18:43:35","slug":"welcome-to-maternity-navigation-adranae-mena","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/richmond-city\/2024\/08\/27\/welcome-to-maternity-navigation-adranae-mena\/","title":{"rendered":"Welcome to Maternity Navigation, Adranae Mena!"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n
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On Friday, August 16, Adranae Mena finished up one of her last tasks as the Community Health Worker (CHW) Senior at RHHD\u2019s\u00a0Southwood Resource Center<\/a>: she hosted the center\u2019s seventh anniversary party.<\/p>\n

Community organizations from\u00a0Legal Aid Justice Center<\/a>\u00a0to\u00a0Little Hands Virginia<\/a>\u00a0set up information tables, a testament to the relationships Adranae cultivated carefully and intentionally throughout her work. Recent graduates of Southwood\u2019s parenting class stopped by to tell Adranae how the lessons she shared on self care and mental health were shaping their day-to-day lives. Kids ran through with churros and pink firefighting helmets, delivered by partners at the Richmond Fire Department. Best of all, Adranae turned the dance floor into a three-generation family reunion with her mom, sister, and daughter.<\/p>\n

Public health has always been a family calling for Adranae. Her sister works in community outreach and education for Anthem, and her daughter staffs the\u00a0Capital Area Health Network<\/a>\u00a0call center. Her mom also had a long career at RHHD, but her personal life inspires Adranae the most: \u201cMy mom has always been the kind of person who is resourceful and makes connections automatically.\u00a0My parents opened their doors to everyone. Frances is everyone\u2019s mother\u2014my sister and I got used to sharing her!\u201d<\/p>\n

As Adranae transitions from\u00a0her CHW role to a new job as RHHD\u2019s Maternity Navigation Coordinator, she sees herself following her mother\u2019s footsteps. Her mom worked with the Richmond Healthy Start Initiative Grant, where she supported the Consortium and Community Advisory Board on Infant Mortality from 2002 until 2019.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn my mom\u2019s work on infant mortality, they identified a significant unmet need.\u201d\u00a0Adranae says. “They were trying to understand what led us to this point. Now, in maternity navigation, I\u2019m on the front lines, working to address these issues before they escalate. If we can prevent abuse, ensure access to healthy food, and connect people to the right programs, we can help bring healthy babies into the world. I feel like I\u2019m continuing the work she did behind the scenes. Even though she\u2019s retired, I still enjoy sitting with her for feedback this helps me\u00a0identify the key areas that need our focus.”<\/p>\n

The Maternity navigation team\u00a0connects expecting parents to important medical and social resources both during pregnancy and after. In this new job, Adranae draws on her time as a CHW, as a\u00a0Capital Area Health Network<\/a>\u00a0employee mentored by Tracy Causey, and\u00a0as an RHHD \u201cResource Mother\u201d. In that last role, she supported teen moms-to-be throughout their pregnancies: “I sometimes drove them to doctors\u2019 appointments when they didn\u2019t have transportation. I also followed up on their schoolwork\u2014having a baby didn\u2019t mean they couldn\u2019t finish school.”<\/p>\n

Adranae explains that supporting families through pregnancies and the arrival of new babies is a critical part of the public health mission: \u201cMaternity navigation includes\u00a0WIC<\/a>, Medicaid, and outreach. Every program we have at the health department plays an important role. We need safe pregnancies and support pregnant mamas\u2014without that, we go back to infant mortality. If we can support mamas and papas early then that\u2019s one less thing they have to concern themselves with. And we want to set them up for success\u2014it’s not about having them lean on us to the point where they can\u2019t navigate through life.\u201d<\/p>\n

For Adranae, public health is about connection\u2014pregnancy is a time to highlight community connections so that our littlest neighbors can grow up healthy: \u201cWhen I reflect on my own culture, there was a strong sense of community\u2014a village of friends, family, and cousins who would help care for the baby so you could take care of yourself. They made sure you were well-fed and hydrated, ensuring you could nurse your baby without worry. I see us trying to return to that sense of village and community, and I believe that\u2019s the role doulas and community health workers play today. We walk hand in hand with our clients, supporting them every step of the way.\u201d<\/p>\n

As Adranae steps into a new role, she shares some advice for families with new babies and people interested in community health work below!<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n\n\n\n
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Adranae celebrates the Southwood Resource Center anniversary with her mom, Frances Oyola, her sister, Geiselle Oyola, and her daughter, Kielah Mena.<\/em><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On Friday, August 16, Adranae Mena finished up one of her last tasks as the Community Health Worker (CHW) Senior at RHHD\u2019s\u00a0Southwood Resource Center: she hosted the center\u2019s seventh anniversary […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":383,"featured_media":21375,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-21374","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog"],"modified_by":null,"yoast_head":"\nWelcome to Maternity Navigation, Adranae Mena! - Richmond City Health Department<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/richmond-city\/2024\/08\/27\/welcome-to-maternity-navigation-adranae-mena\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Welcome to Maternity Navigation, Adranae Mena! 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