Shown from left to proper following the Johnson & Johnson Foundation Stories from the Heart of Health occasion held through the United Nations General Assembly are: Mariam Merced, Director of Community Health Promotions at RWJUH; Irma Nolasco, Community Health Ambassador at RWJUH; and Silvia Cruz-Vargas, Senior Director of Global Community Impact for Johnson & Johnson.

(New Brunswick, NJ) – Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital (RWJUH), an RWJBarnabas Health facility, Community Health Ambassador Irma Nolasco not too long ago participated within the Johnson & Johnson Foundation-sponsored occasion, “Stories from the Heart of Health” held through the United Nations General Assembly in New York City.

The occasion offers a chance for front-line well being employees to share their inspiring tales on the coronary heart of well being together with greatest practices that assist well being care suppliers higher handle challenges their native communities face in the present day. Nolasco spoke about her outreach experiences working with RWJUH Team Salud. Team Salud is a bunch of bilingual volunteer group well being employees that function a bridge between the healthcare system and the New Brunswick group.

A New Brunswick resident, Nolasco works with Team Salud’s Diabetes Spanish-language help group. She has additionally helped promote flu and COVID-19 vaccinations locally, addressing boundaries and questions group residents had concerning the vaccine.

“During the COVID-19 pandemic we saw our community scared, uninformed and in high-risk situations. We started calling on our people to share truthful, direct information from medical sources,” Nolasco defined. “We took the information to Bodegas and local businesses. We shared information on social media in English and Spanish. We worked hard to get our community to trust the information, get tested, and help them sign up for COVID and flu vaccines” 

Nolasco dreamed of being a trainer whereas rising up in Oaxaca, Mexico. She immigrated to the United States to affix her husband and needed to put her dream on maintain, as a result of the price of schooling and her unfamiliarity with the English language. Instead, she and her husband targeted on incomes sufficient to help their youngsters and provides them a path to a greater life.

Despite these obstacles, Nolasco was decided to assist others.

“My first job here was as a cleaner at a rehabilitation clinic,” Nolasco remembers. “With my little English, I listened to the patients and just by patting them or touching their hand, they felt better. Patients needed to talk to someone and feel the human warmth.”

Nolasco continued serving to and serving others at her church.

“Years later, I joined a group in my parish called Women of Social Justice focused on developing our leadership, self-love, and mutual help. There I met many migrant women, like me, who had the same dreams and desires,” Nolasco stated. “We formed bonds of friendship and learned about the many challenges our community is facing – such as domestic violence, obesity in our children, and the importance of Community Health Workers in the Latino community.”

Nolasco might have discovered her true calling when RWJUH Director of Community Health Promotions Mariam Merced and her employees fashioned Team Salud. They started recruiting native, Spanish-speaking residents to function Community Health Promoters, also called “Promotoras.”

“One day I was invited to join Team Salud to work as a health promoter,” Nolasco defined. “Being invited was emotional for me and at the same time a challenge. I was excited to think that there was something good that I could give to people and that I could continue my dream of educating. As a health promoter, I bring information and I teach my community. I can advise and encourage them as a teacher does.”

In the Team Salud program, Community Health Promoters full well being workshops and specialised coaching on successfully conduct group well being outreach – from the place to put a flyer, method individuals and share methods that inspire people to take management of their well being and that of their household.

“I have learned that our job as a Promotora is to connect our community to health services,” Nolasco famous. “This job is also like being a teacher. We are part of our communities and we know what challenges we face when seeking medical services – we don’t speak the language, we work long hours, we don’t know where to look for services, we don’t have anyone to take care of our children so we can go get tested, and we are afraid to participate because we are undocumented. We have managed to make people trust us. They know us. They see us actively carrying information and walking the streets.”

During her presentation on the Johnson & Johnson Foundation occasion, Nolasco spoke about challenges that the Latino group faces when accessing well being care companies and the way RWJUH’s Community Health Ambassadors function a bridge to those companies for a lot of within the Latino Community.

Nolasco additionally burdened the significance of medical health insurance for all and the way it could enhance entry to healthcare and well being fairness for weak communities through the concluding panel dialogue.

Although Nolasco didn’t develop into a trainer as she initially deliberate, she believes that she in the end achieved her dream.

“I can say that being a promoter has become my life project and my dream. I’m happy to be able to help people in one way or another,” Nolasco stated. “Every day, I help my community with the health information I receive. Not only that, I also use it to take care of my health and that of my family. We are one voice – creating a culture of taking care of our health.”

About Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital

Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital (RWJUH) New Brunswick, an RWJBarnabas Health Facility, is a 640-bed tutorial medical middle that’s New Jersey’s largest tutorial medical middle by means of its deep partnership with Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School. RWJUH is the flagship Cancer Hospital of Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey and The Bristol-Myers Squibb Children’s Hospital at Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital, a nationally-ranked 2023-24 Best Children’s Hospital by U.S. News & World Report. Centers of Excellence embrace cardiovascular care from minimally invasive coronary heart surgical procedure to transplantation, most cancers care, stroke care, neuroscience, orthopedics, bariatric surgical procedure and girls’s well being. A Level 1 Trauma Center and the primary designated Pediatric Trauma Center within the state, RWJUH’s New Brunswick campus serves as a nationwide useful resource in its ground-breaking approaches to emergency preparedness. 

RWJUH has earned important nationwide recognition for medical high quality and affected person security, together with the distinguished Magnet® Recognition for Nursing Excellence and being named to Newsweek’s 2023 listing of Best Ambulatory Surgery Centers. The RWJUH Advanced Comprehensive Stroke Center has been acknowledged by The Joint Commission and the American Heart Association as assembly The Joint Commission’s requirements for Disease-Specific Care Comprehensive Stroke Center Advanced Certification. RWJUH has additionally earned The Joint Commission’s Gold Seal of Approval® for Disease-Specific Care Certification for Spine Surgery; The Joint Commission Gold Seal Certification for Bariatric Services; and The Joint Commission Gold Seal Certification for Hip and Knee Replacement companies. The Joint Commission additionally awarded RWJUH a Gold Seal Certification in addition to an Advanced Certification in Ventricular Assist Device (VAD) Implantation.

Contact: Peter Haigney
RWJUH Public Relations
(732) 937-8568