Breaking Barriers for a Healthier City: Spotlight on the West Baltimore RICH Collaborative

In this episode, we delve into the transformative work of the West Baltimore RICH Collaborative, a partnership of 15 community organizations dedicated to tackling hypertension, social determinants of health, and social isolation in four West Baltimore ZIP codes that show evidence of race-based disparities. Join us as alumna and the new Bill and Joanne Conway Dean of the University of Maryland School of Nursing Yolanda Ogbolu, PhD '11, NNP, FNAP, FAAN, discusses how this collaborative — which stands for Reducing Isolation and Inequities in Cardiovascular Health — is making a significant impact in Baltimore. 

Listen to The UMB Pulse on Apple, Spotify, Amazon Music, and wherever you like to listen. The UMB Pulse is also now on YouTube.

Visit our website at umaryland.edu/pulse or email us at umbpulse@umaryland.edu.

Transcript

Charles Schelle: 0:00

Dana, it's great to be here in person and a studio here at the University of Maryland School of Nursing today. I haven't seen some people on campus because we've just been really busy lately with all sorts of things. But now there's a lot of events going on on campus, but doesn't bring you back a little bit from the days of this pandemic, when you were like, in your little hole or cave, and then you see someone and you're like, Oh, my God, there's life out there.

Dana Rampolla: 0:27

There's people, there's people. Yeah, it's nice Right? to be on campus. It's nice to see people again in person. And we are starting to host a lot of our UMB events and things if not in person, at least with the hybrid components. So we'll be talking to Dean Yolanda Ogbolu. And we'll be hitting on that social isolation, not just us personally, in our work environments, but here in the city, and how that affects people. Not only not only in terms of communicating and connecting with people, but it affects their health as well.

Charles Schelle: 0:57

Absolutely. So you're going to hear a lot about cardiovascular health and social isolation, and things that you might not think about right? Violence around a neighborhood, or it could be not having access to fresh foods, like being in a food desert, and how that impacts your cardiovascular health as well.

Dana Rampolla: 1:18

Right? And that we've been trying to catch up with the dean for an many number of months now. And it's fantastic because not only are we going to share about something called the rich collaborative today, but we're also going to talk to her about what it's like to be a dean in a big university, especially in a town that she grew up in and in the University where she studied. So let's let's hop on over and get her on one screen with us. Here we go.

Jena Frick: 1:47

You're listening to the heartbeat of the University of Maryland, Baltimore, the UMB pulse.

Dana Rampolla: 2:00

So Dean, it is so nice to have you on the program today. We appreciate you allowing us to come into your beautiful studio space, we we are happy to be here and learning the ropes. But we're most happy to be here because we've been trying to catch up with you for about a year now. I think when I first sent you an email about being on the program, the whole goal was to talk about the rich collaborative, which we absolutely want to talk about in in here shortly. But tell us about what's been going on in with you professionally, your climb your trajectory, and how does it feel to be called Dean?

Yolanda Ogbolu: 2:36

Yes. So I'm really excited as always, both things to be in Baltimore, and more importantly, to be at University of Maryland and Baltimore, a place that I love, and to be able to lead a top 10 nursing school, one of the largest nursing schools in the country. And so it's really an exciting time. You know, I always think I've been thinking a lot about David Satcher, who was the first African American Surgeon General for the United States. And he said something really simple. He said, I never thought I could, but I never thought I could. And I think it's just really important that I've been able to kind of keep my eyes open in terms of living a life that's full of opportunity, and really just going after that opportunity. And so, you know, my trajectory, in my mind was not expected to become the Dean of the School of Nursing. I've had a great nursing career, 35 years in nursing, and I work taking care of premature babies in the neonatal intensive care unit for 25 years. And that was a lot of fun. I enjoyed that. But because of my interest in health disparities, and trying to understand better why babies of color ended up in the NICU more than other babies, it really sent me on a different trajectory towards academia to be able to engage in research, and community engagement. So it's a great place to be, and I'm excited to be doing over Lu and follow the legacy of 134 years of great nursing education here at University of Maryland, Baltimore.

Dana Rampolla: 4:19

That's wonderful. And your degrees are all from the University of Maryland, Baltimore. Nice.

Yolanda Ogbolu: 4:24

Yes, I am the first alarm to become Dean of the School of Nursing, and I'm a graduate of the bachelors masters and PhD programs here at the university. And so, you know, I think that's a good story. That's how right because it really talks about how open the university is to opportunity and to growth within the university. And so, you know, it's pretty amazing. And I'm happy to have received my education and to be able to continue my career here.

Dana Rampolla: 4:59

That's a fantastic long story, and we are thankful that you are here because you bring such a historical perspective to the position.

Unknown: 5:08

Absolutely. And last year, during our first ever faculty convocation degree, you gave a great speech. And we learned a lot about you, and how you grew up in the city not too far from campus. Right. So how, what kind of impression did growing up in the city make on a little Yolanda?

Yolanda Ogbolu: 5:28

Sure, yeah, I mean, I was really fortunate to grow up just two blocks from here across from Martin Luther King Boulevard, in a place called Lexan Terrace. They were high rise projects that were there many years ago, and my family and I lived there. And I went to school around here, and I walked this neighborhood, right. And it's just so interesting to be here at this time, and to see how much the neighborhood has changed by, you know, walking through the neighborhood. And being able to walk from here to my favorite place, which many of people have heard me talk about, is the inner Pratt Free Library on Cathedral Street. You know, those are fond memories for me, I loved being able to walk up and down. And, you know, I sat in that talk, something that I feel really strongly about, which is, Baltimore is a beautiful place to be, despite his challenges and everything, it's a beautiful place to be. And the power of Baltimore is really endless people, right. And there's social connections that we make with one another with our friends and our neighbors, and even with our family. So my grandmother told me, she was working at University of Maryland medical center, that she could hear me my name being called the medical center, she said, I hear them calling you Dr. Yolanda overhead. And those are strong family connections with your grandparents that told you there's opportunity in the future, and they can hear it, and they could see it even before you can. And so it's just been wonderful to grow up in this community.

Dana Rampolla: 7:06

Sorry, go ahead. I was just gonna say that's an incredible story. And it must be so meaningful to you, but also to your family to have watched you grow up and to stay within Baltimore to give back to this community.

Yolanda Ogbolu: 7:19

Absolutely. My family has been in Baltimore for eight generations. Wow. And we have a large family. So I have 250 living family members that live in Baltimore. And when you look at the census that says 40, to 60% of people in Baltimore never leave, that's my family. And so it's been really exciting to, to be here. I currently don't live in the city, but I have lots of family that live in the city. And I often tell my students, those people you're caring for, they might be my family. Good job, it's really important that you understand their needs, and that you try to meet their needs.

Unknown: 7:59

Well, one of the things you walk the audience through, and we'll talk a lot about this today, is how there are certain aspects of city life. It's not unique to Baltimore, where things happen that impact you, that's more than just your mental health that could lead to social isolation. And, and you really need to rely on your neighbors and the good of the people around you to support you to get through that. So walk us through that a little bit. Explain to our listeners and our viewers and how, what that concept is about site social isolation, in terms of how you described it impacting health.

Yolanda Ogbolu: 8:37

Sure, yeah, social isolation, is because of my walks to the library, right. And that really triggered my interest in social isolation. And social isolation is a household word now, because of the pandemic, but social isolation, it happened way before the pandemic. And so, um, social isolation means that you lack meaningful relationships and connections with one another with other people. But it's more than just about people when you live in certain communities. You're also socially isolated from the resources and the experiences that you need every day, those social factors that you might not be exposed to have impacts on your health. And what I mean by that is, like, Do you have a playground to play in that safe, right to have places where you can get food, um, so you can be socially isolated from foods and socially isolated from places where you can walk and exercise and keep yourself healthy. And we know that social isolation, as implications is as dangerous as smoking 15 cigarettes per day, right? And it increases your risk for heart disease, hypertension, and increases your risk for heart attack. But we also can only imagine the impact that it has on your mental health, right? So it increases stress and anxiety. So When one of my studies that I did recently called belonged to Baltimore, that study really focused on looking at social isolation, looking at mothers of young children. And that was really interesting because I was able to go out and talk to community members and get their perceptions of social isolation. And one father said to me, imagine living in a block where there's 20 houses, 12 of them are vacant. Two of them are older adults that are bolted behind the doors, and you're afraid to let your children go out and play because the playground is not safe. And he said, Yes, I'm isolated, isolated in my house. And so we know that, you know, there are lots of work that needs to be done to really improve the conditions within the city so that people are connected to their neighbors, that they can have a safe playground, they can have a grocery store. And so I've really dedicated my research career to focusing on how to make substantial change in those areas.

Charles Schelle: 11:01

Did you notice these patterns as as a child or teenager? Or did it become more like a solidified in your mind? And as you started to go through your education? And through your practice?

Yolanda Ogbolu: 11:16

Yeah, absolutely. So as a child, I witnessed things, and I didn't understand it, right? Where I grew up was predominantly African American. And, you know, many people were unemployed. And from my eyes, I could witness the inequities in terms of very close to university, I saw people can't go into work. But those people didn't look like me. Right. And so, you know, as a child, I noticed the inequities, but I couldn't name it. Right. And so one of the beauties of being at the School of Nursing was I was able to really take courses on social justice, take global health courses, and really understand what that meant. And to be able to name it right to name it social justice, to understand inequities and wealth, and to be able to understand why why things look the way they did in my neighborhood, because in the back of my mind, even as a kid, the great thing I had was, I was always curious about why, why is it like, that was the guy. And that's a trigger that I think really put me on the path to academia. Right? You just keep asking why and why researching more and more and why and why and then suddenly, why can't we do something about this? Now that we understand Yeah. What's next?

Dana Rampolla: 12:38

Well, so that belong, belong to Baltimore program that would you say that kind of shaped where you moved forward with the rich collaborative that?

Yolanda Ogbolu: 12:47

Absolutely, absolutely. Because the West-- Belong to Baltimore study really looked at mental health outcomes. It looked at stress and anxiety as it relates to social isolation. And, you know, we we learned a lot, right? A surprising finding I just want to share really quickly about that is I also measured hope, oh, and that study, and one of the things that I learned was that people that had higher levels of hope, were less socially isolate. And I think that's really interested in something that I'm interested in pursuing more in future research projects, but knowing that people have more risk for hypertension, for heart attack, that was also something really important to examine. And that's what led to the West Baltimore RICH Collaborative, in terms of looking at the relationship between hypertension and social isolation, and then really partnering with really great partners.

Dana Rampolla: 13:47

So this led you to think about the RICH collaborative, tell us what we've referred to it a couple of times, what does the acronym stand for, and you received when we first connected last fall, you had just received a tremendous grant to fund that program. So tell us a little bit about that.

Yolanda Ogbolu: 14:03

So I'm really excited to be leading what's called the West Baltimore RICH collaborative and the West Baltimore RICH collaborative is really focusing on Reducing Inequities and Isolation and Cardiovascular Health. And so that's what RICH stands for. And it's a collaboration of 14 organizations. So 10 community based organizations to federally qualified health centers, to two Medical Systems, University of Maryland medical system and ascension St. Agnes. And so we have been working together for five years. We had that discussion this week, and we couldn't believe it, of which only a year and a half of that's been funded. And so that will tell you there's a commitment from both community based organizations, federally qualified health centers and hospitals as well as where We're partnering with Coppin University School of Nursing, that are really committed to improving the health of people that live in West Baltimore. And we know that hypertension is the most serious issue that's happening in terms of chronic disease in West Baltimore, and that African Americans are at much higher risk for hypertension. And so we've really been working to reduce hypertension through a multi level intervention. And so the project really focuses on five key interventions. So I'll just walk you through them really quickly. So one of them is a health equity Learning Collaborative. And what does that mean? It means that these 14 organizations are committed to working together to learning from one another, to really have an bi directional learning from community based organizations to hospitals to how can we do this better? How can we touch the community better? How can we reach and so we've learned so much from one another is spurred off into other projects. The second thing that we're doing is really addressing social determinants of health through a community health worker model. So we've been able to hire people from West Baltimore, as well as others from across the city, they're really come and be engaged, and work directly with community members, community outreach workers are really lay people that can go in and really talk to community members, speak to them in a language that is really easy to understand. And to really engage them to understand what their social needs are, what do they need help with finances, help with employment, help with housing, and then identify resources and then reach back out to them and close the loop on those resources. We've also been doing primary and secondary events, what that means is we've been out doing the events on how you can reduce your blood pressure. So sometimes we have events at community based organizations that are our partners like the Druid Heights, CDC, or Light Health and Wellness. And sometimes we do it all together, like I'd be more healthy baby, I'm sorry, be more healthy Baltimore work at the convention center. And we recently had a major event at Roberta's House, which is another one of our programs that focuses on having support groups that can help people that are socially isolated and have experienced violence. In addition to that we're doing self measured blood pressure programs, because we believe that people at home can help to control their own blood pressure if they're given the resources that they need. So we provide people with blood pressure cuffs, we teach them how to use it. And we give them the parameters to let them know what's too high was too low, when you're okay, and when you really need to go out and see your primary care physician. And then one of the things we did that's really exciting is nurse led clinics. And so part of that proposal was to open up nurse led clinics. And so we've been able to open up a nurse led clinic and collaboration with the Medical Center at McCullough Homes. And that's really exciting, where we have a nurse practitioner in there that is providing care to people that live within the senior facility in Baltimore. And then we've partnered with other nurse like clinics, like the nurse health suite, and the University of Maryland. Baltimore, has a community engagement center. And within that center, we have a health suite. And we have one of our nurses from the School of Nursing, Dr. Kelly Duran, that manages that clinic on Wednesday. This is a lot of interventions, and I'm sharing a snapshot and I'm missing something. But what I want you to say about it is because it's 14 organizations, there's a lot of power when we can come together. So when we collaborate, we can do more for the community to gather than any of the organizations can do alone. And so we've been able to address social isolation by doing the support groups, as well. So yeah, that's a really exciting proposal. And that was submitted and funded as this collaboration. And now there's a new opportunity coming for us to resubmit for some additional funding for another five years for that process.

Charles Schelle: 19:19

Wonderful. on what some of the organizations do, and obviously, right, as you said, collaborate. Collaboration is key with so many partners, and some of them have their own role. Again, you don't have to go through the entire list and you share some of the things that the community engagement center does, for instance, but are there a couple partners who have a maybe an interesting role or niche role in this that really complements and brings this all together?

Yolanda Ogbolu: 20:01

Oh, sure. I mean, I think all of the organizations are contributing in a really special way. I think something that is really special is in the School of Nursing. And in the School of Nursing, we're managing the community outreach worker model, right. And that's been just really interesting. We partner with the community engagement center, for example, with their workforce development program to really try to identify people in Baltimore that would be qualified for those roles. So we're always reaching out and trying to recruit more people into those roles, but the community outreach workers just really bring a special touch to the program. There's some, again, the power of the people in Baltimore, right, bringing in community members as part of our team, and then really giving them the power to go out and impact other people in the community. I really think that's been one of the most exciting parts of the program. And then we have others like Ascension St. Agnes total healthcare, and chase Braxton that also have mobile units. We have the Governor as well mobile in the School of Nursing. But we've been able to leverage those mobile vans, those mobile clinics that go out into the community, so that community members don't have to come to us. And we also are willing to go to them. And so those are other special parts of the program.

Charles Schelle: 21:21

You know, what's really amazing is that there's sometimes there's grants awarded or research that it takes maybe 1,2, 3 years until you start getting returned results. And it sounds like you hit the ground running immediately to launch a lot of this. So just that that's just amazing. So congrats -- congratulations for getting all of that out on the streets so quickly.

Yolanda Ogbolu: 21:41

Yeah, I think when you talk to community members, what community members will say, stop collecting so much information, and let's do something. And this project was really about let's do something, right. And so organizations were willing to partner and take a chance and work together and go out and do something. And so I think it's been really meaningful. And we'll continue to track you know, the outcomes of the program, and hopefully be able to share that to the wider community soon. Sometimes it's hard to make a huge difference in just a year and a half, our project ends in April 2024. But we'll be able to, we have, we do know that we've been able to help link people to resources to housing, to transportation, and we've given out about 1000, blood pressure cuffs to individuals. So we know that we're making a difference. We've touched about 3000 people in the community. And so it's making a difference.

Dana Rampolla: 22:42

In my marketing role, I actually work with the CEC, the community engagement center a lot. And it really is incredible to me. When I first came into the university, just and you did mention a lot of people who are out doing a lot of things in the community, but right here at UMB, we we offer the CEC, to the community and all of these programs that are helpful, but we are empowering people, you know, I always try to explain to people who have never heard of it, we're not just handing people fish, we are teaching them to fish. And we're helping to provide fishing rods when we can through a grant like this. So it's really powerful. And it's incredible, like you said, not to just talk about it or to inform people but to really live it and make it work for them. So you mentioned an end date, what do you see? Do you see RICH evolving any during that next year? So

Yolanda Ogbolu: 23:32

Sure, yeah, we have an additional about six months left on the project. In the meantime, there to new call for proposals out. And we're applying for the next phase so that we can continue to expand and strengthen what we're doing and rich. And we know that to make a difference. And to really make a difference in health outcomes. It takes more than a year and a half. And so we're looking forward to the next opportunity, which is a grant for five years and to bringing in more community organizations that will work and join alongside as well.

Dana Rampolla: 24:08

And a shout out to the team who does all of that grant application work because that's a big a big lift also so So you said that it would would probably end and then just repeat for me the next one, if that's granted,

Yolanda Ogbolu: 24:22

that would be the next slide is funded, then it will start the day after this one's got stops. And it will be funded for five years, which is really a substantial time where you would expect to see us really reducing health disparities in cardiovascular outcomes after a five year grant. So we've done a lot of great work in terms of building the infrastructure to get 14 organizations to come together agreed to work together and then put in all the infrastructure needed to make the partnership work has been a major accomplishment and we're really excited about what we can continue do in the future.

Unknown: 25:03

Yeah, absolutely. And just being about a year into this, you've had some short term success. And obviously, you want to collect data to see what the true impacts are. But what can other communities and organizations kind of take away and learn from this model to and be inspired to do it in their own community?

Yolanda Ogbolu: 25:21

Sure, absolutely. One of the challenges I think in healthcare today is there's a lot of fragmentation. There are places where community organizations are working and dependent from healthcare organizations, independent from academic institutions. And I hope the thread that you see in my work is I believe there's power in connecting, right, I think that we can do so much more together than any one of us can do alone. And so that connection is so important. And so for this project, what I would dream that people would take away from, it's really learning how to build the infrastructure so that healthcare organizations and community based and federally qualified health centers can work together in a safe way, in a meaningful way, and in a way that we all rise together. Because I really think that's what's happening with the West Baltimore rich, collaborative.

Dana Rampolla: 26:16

So let's say I'm a listener, and my interest is piqued by all of this conversation, how can individuals and organizations support your efforts and the work that's currently being done?

Yolanda Ogbolu: 26:27

Sure, well, we're excited I can tell you and I, we have had like an open door. So if organizations come in wanting to work with us, like I know, the American Heart Association, they were really excited about the work we are doing. And so the leader for Maryland came to us and say, I want to be a part of this. And so we were really excited to welcome her and Rhonda Chapman from the American Heart Association, you know, and she helped us connect to more faith based organizations, she helped connect us to places where they have a kitchen, where they actually teach people how to, you know, do better with healthy foods. And so you know, it's been we've we've really had an open door for partnerships and great ideas. Nobody has a monopoly on great ideas. And so when people come and want to share their great ideas with us, we're open and ready to listen. And so they could find us on our webpage, West Baltimore RICH Collaborative.

Dana Rampolla: 27:28

Okay. And we'll make sure to put all that in our show notes for people to access it. Charles?

Charles Schelle: 27:34

Yeah, Iwas just wondering, given the theme of, of social isolation and determinants of health, you know, ring through this, and and we're seeing the progress. Is there something maybe cooking or simmering beyond the rich collaborative that you want to achieve around this topic?

Yolanda Ogbolu: 27:56

Sure. Wow. You know, I mentioned early that the nursing school has a rich 134 year history, right. And in that history, they've always engaged in community health. And that's something that we're really proud about our community public health program. So today, I'm talking to you about the West Baltimore rich, but we have programs in the library, where our nurses take nurse out nursing faculty take nursing students to the library, and they help patients to understand the health information that they get from the hospital. And they also address social determinants of health in the library. So they make themselves available several days a week to four libraries within Baltimore. And it really emerged because librarians were seeing patients show up in the library they had discharged from the hospital and they show the discharge paper and they asked the librarian, can you tell me what this means? Right, and they don't understand. So having nurses in the library has been really powerful. We've also been in Headstart. And so we're centrally located at head starts all over the city. And that's been really helpful because having nursing nurses, nurse practitioners there, we've been able to provide hearing exams and health physicals and help children to get to the appropriate places that they need to get care for asthma. And so the nurse as a nursing school, we have a big footprint in the community. And then we also are innovative in terms of some of the work we're doing about bringing global and local together. And so trying to look around the world for the best ideas, and what might work in our local communities. So we're also lead something called the Global Learning for Health Equity network, which is a partnership with a lot of different organizations from across the country. That's really focused on how can we learn the best from around the world and bring it into our local community so that we can reduce health disparities. So we have a lot going on and the School of Nursing that's really exciting around community health. And I think a lot of people might not know. But we're committed to the community, to Baltimore to the state of Maryland. We've worked on rural places on the eastern shore with our well mobiel. We routinely go to Prince George's County on a weekly basis where we provide care to a large immigrant population in Prince George's County. So I'm, you know, very dedicated and committed not only in the city, but across the state of Maryland.

Dana Rampolla: 30:37

Thank you so much for being on and just enlightening us all and sharing the great work that the whole school is doing, not only in Baltimore, but beyond. Yes.

Yolanda Ogbolu: 30:46

So thank you so much for having me. I really appreciate it.

Charles Schelle: 30:49

Thank you, Dean.

Yolanda Ogbolu: 30:49

Bye bye.

Jena Frick: 30:55

UMB pulse with Charles Shelley and Dana rampolla is a UMB Office of Communications and Public Affairs production, edited by Charles Shelley marketing by Dana rampolla.