While the partnership officially kicked off in mid-October at a launch event attended by School of Public Health community members and elected officials including Rhode Island Gov. Dan McKee, the fellows have already been out in the community for at least a month, connecting and informing people at risk of losing their coverage. 

Pierre Jolin, a master of public health candidate at Brown, has been visiting Clínica Esperanza, which provides healthcare to underinsured adults living in Rhode Island, to meet patients, share information and offer resources. 

“As a Spanish speaker, with family members who are Latino, I have been able to connect with folks in the community who speak Spanish and learn about how they're experiencing these changes or if they've even heard about them,” Jolin said.

In addition to talking to patients about the Medicaid changes, Jolin said he has been able to provide information to people concerned about immigration status and healthcare and others who are transitioning to citizenship who are confused about the rules. Jolin had previously been conducting office-based research on health policy and was seeking an opportunity to do community-focused, on-the-ground work.

“The Medicaid fellows program presented a translational opportunity — a way to put policy into practice,” Jolin said.

Meeting community members where they are

Given changes to Medicaid such as work and documentation requirements, groups such as immigrants, refugees, unhoused and people with substance use disorder are most vulnerable to losing coverage. Under the leadership of Abdullah Shihipar, a research associate with Brown’s People, Place and Health Collective, the Medicaid fellows program has been working closely with Rhode Island Medicaid, which already has strong partnerships with organizations including Clínica Esperanza, Dorcas International, House of Hope CDC, Project Weber/RENEW and Brown University Health, among others.

Shihipar said the fellows each spend up to 15 hours each week engaging in outreach activities such as presentations, tabling, Q&A sessions and canvassing across Providence and the state, helping residents navigate changes to coverage and eligibility. They are also building sustained relationships through weekly drop-in sites across 10 community organizations and clinics serving low-income, non-English speaking, immigrant and/or unhoused populations, as well as individuals facing substance use disorder and recovery. As part of the two-year effort, the students will become certified application counselors so that they may sit down with impacted Rhode Islanders one-on-one and work through health insurance applications and rules together.

“The fellows have taken this project and run with it,” Shihipar said. “They have scheduled their own canvassing activities across Providence and are extremely involved. It’s exciting to be supporting them and to be working with Rhode Island Medicaid on this high-impact project.”

The Rhode Island Medicaid Program (within Rhode Island Executive Office of Health and Human Services) already has deep relationships in the community and experience in helping people understand how these changes may impact them. The agency is reinforcing the students’ work with a statewide, multi-lingual awareness campaign that includes billboards, buses, social media, radio and other channels.

The initiative combines broad public messaging with deep community engagement to make sure no one will be left behind, said Rhode Island Medicaid Program Director Kristin Sousa.

“This is exactly the kind of proactive, community-based work Rhode Island needs right now,” Sousa said. “We know that policy shifts at the federal level can create confusion, misunderstanding and sometimes even fear. But we also know that when information is delivered clearly, consistently and through trusted channels, people are far better equipped to make decisions that protect their health coverage.”

Community members routinely tell students that their canvassing sessions are the first time that they have heard about the new and pending changes, and that their materials are welcome to be taped on barber shop windows and grocery store walls, said Aidan Choi, a master of public health student at Brown and a Medicaid fellow.

“For many of us, this is a unique opportunity as burgeoning public health professional practitioners to take our learning outside of labs and classrooms and apply it directly with the communities that we will eventually serve,” Choi said. “This is the avenue through which we see our growing skills directly translate to community impact.”