Marie-Dominique Dumornay joined the IU Center for Global Health Equity (IUCGHE) as the Haitian Community Liaison this month and will facilitate connections between the center, Haitian Association of Indiana (HAI), the Haitian community in Indiana and community and academic partners.
Dumornay recently served as a case manager for HAI and has a deep understanding of the Haitian culture. “I have travelled to Haiti to conduct various workshops and have learned to connect and communicate well with Haitian men and women. I also understand some of the challenges they face adapting to a new country and culture,” she said.
She will work with Laura Ruhl, MD, MPH, director of reciprocal innovation at the center, to apply lessons learned through health partnerships and experiences in Kenya and other low- and middle-income countries to improve health for communities in Indiana including the Haitian community.
“I look forward to working with a coalition of strong community partners to address some of the priority health areas of focus of the Haitian community such as infant and maternal health, as well as social determinants of health such as stable housing and job preparedness,” said Dumornay.
Dr. Ruhl shared additional thoughts about the growing partnership:
Can you summarize the collaboration with HAI?
For the past 9 months, IUCGHE and HAI have created a partnership that is modeled on the Academic Model Providing Access to Health (AMPATH)’s principles of partnership including a belief in health as a human right, accountability to communities, equitable partnerships, collective impact and reciprocal innovation. IU has been a leader in the AMPATH partnership in Kenya for more than 35 years. With our shared experiences, we are partnering to develop a Haitian Health Coalition of community partners, perform continuous community needs assessments within the Haitian community, and co-create and pilot innovations that improve health outcomes by focusing on social factors that create disparities.
How will this new role advance this collaboration?
The community liaison will be a huge asset to IUCGHE, HAI and Haitian newcomers in the community. As someone who cares deeply about people from Haiti and has both American and Haitian cultural identities, Dominique Dumornay will not only liaise us with Haitian community members but also with the many diverse partners hoping to work together to address challenges. The focus will be on the community’s needs and ensuring sustainable solutions that address people’s priorities in their lives, which too often come before health priorities. The partnership will initially focus on job readiness and housing and then layer on health solutions to improve outcomes in mental health and maternal and child health.
How is AMPATH experience informing the work of the partnership?
We will prioritize ‘Leading with care,” and will focus on offering health services beyond the clinic walls by bringing care to homes and community access points. We will explore AMPATH innovations in hopes that adaptations can be made to bring AMPATH solutions here to Indiana. I look forward to bringing teams and partners from Kenya and Indianapolis together to share ideas, learn and innovate.
How can people get involved?
As the coalition’s and our work grows, we hope to have volunteer opportunities for students, donors and supporters of AMPATH and the IU Center for Global Health Equity. By bringing our work locally, we will be able to better engage our support networks to improve the health for immigrant and refugee populations here in Indiana. We are tremendously grateful to the Eli Lilly and Company Foundation (Lilly Foundation) for providing the financial support to IU to build this initiative. The Lilly Foundation is a separate tax-exempt, private foundation established in 1968 and supported by donations from Eli Lilly and Company (Lilly), and supports philanthropic programs across health, equity, and education, to extend Lilly’s reach and impact in a charitable manner. We always welcome ideas and new energy, so don’t hesitate to reach out to me if you are excited about this new opportunity.
