According to The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the risk of pregnancy-related deaths for Black women is 3 times higher than that of white women. The CDC also reports that more than 80% of all pregnancy-related deaths are preventable. Racial disparities and biases persist in the field of obstetrics leading to the countless deaths of Black mothers across the United States. My name is Kayla Walker and I am a rising senior at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte majoring in Public Health and Mathematics on the pre-medicine track. Throughout high school and my undergraduate journey, health disparities have always been something that has driven my interest in becoming physician-activist. In high school, I completed my STEM senior capstone project about the maternal health disparities and biases in medicine. My team and I were able to complete an educational session with aspiring healthcare professionals about common medical misconceptions by race, educate about maternal mortality disparities, and introduce doulas as a potential field they may be interested in. This project led me to having an overwhelming interest in women’s health. Coming to Charlotte as a Levine Scholar, I wanted to use the opportunities available to me to understand the state of women’s health in the city, work with local organizations that address women’s health issues, and join clubs and organizations that support the cause.
During the end of my first year in the Levine Scholars Program, I learned about an existing civic engagement project with the Salvation Army Center of Hope, a homeless shelter for single women and families. The goal of this project was to provide broad health education to the women and children of the shelter and supply essential products for self-care. Each session had a different focus such as dental, skin, eye, or mental health. Learning about this project sounded perfect for 
me because it combined my interests in medicine and public health while serving a community that was important to me. The opportunity to interact with the women during the educational sessions made the project stand out the most. I loved having meaningful and engaging conversations with the residents about their health. Taking on leadership in this project, I wanted to bring new ideas by expanding the healthcare topics discussed with the women as well as bring health care professionals as guest speakers to have an expert in the room to accompany the toiletry products and resources in Charlotte for free or low-cost care. While working on this project, I was nominated for the Campus Compact Newman Civic Fellowship by Chancellor Sharon Gaber. I was very grateful for the opportunity to attend the 2023 Newman Civic Fellow Covening with the support from the Levine Scholars Program. Throughout the weekend, I was able to connect with other Newman Fellows from across the United States, hear about their public service projects from a range of disciplines, and develop strategies to enact changes in my community. I also learned about the opportunity to apply for a Mini-Grant thanks to the support of The Allstate Foundation. I knew immediately that additional funding for this project would help support a semester for Harvesting Healthy Habits.
I was very thankful to have this established project that the Mini grant would support. In my planning for the Spring 2024 semester, I planned to complete four visits to the shelter from January to April. The first session would be about dental health where we provided toothpaste, floss, toothbrushes, and mouthwash in prepackaged goodie bags. The following session was focused on skin health providing chapstick, skin cleanser, body lotion, nail clippers, sunscreen, and a shampoo and conditioner set. The next session was about reproductive health providing pads, tampons, and condoms. The last session was focused on mental health providing journals, pens, and stress balls.
Overall, the semester was very successful. We were able to provide a total of 1922 items over the course of three visits to the shelter allowing approximately 96 women to receive each a goodie bag at each visit. Through the sessions, I learned how to be flexible and engaging with the audience. One time at the shelter, the nurse supervisor notified me that many of the women were hanging out in the cafeteria, so instead of them coming to us, we went to them to host the session. Additionally, I tried to prompt the audience with questions about how they manage their health to keep them engaged and promote healthy behaviors they may have already implemented. One setback throughout the semester was only being able to complete three visits to the shelter instead of the planned four visits. Although we were unable to visit the four times, we were able to provide more items at the visits to still spend the $1500 grant. One addition was purchasing healthy snack packs to keep the women and any children who were present engaged during the sessions.
Working on this project has taught me the importance of maintaining a connection with the community, learning about the challenges people may face, and the resources available to help. After graduation, I am not sure if I will stay in the Charlotte area, however I know wherever I go, I will take the time to learn about the population and resources available. As an aspiring physician who plans on working in underserved communities, it is so important to develop strong ties to the community where you work and understand the resources available to connect people with if they are in need. As a future physician, I plan to follow in the footsteps of other physicians I have met through this project who regularly volunteer at the shelter. I am grateful for the opportunity to make such meaningful connections with the women of the shelter, empowering them to have important conversations about their health and seek further guidance from healthcare workers in the community.
This upcoming year, my goal is to implement more evaluation throughout the program. While volunteering, I have always tried to get verbal feedback from the women and staff who engage in the project, but I know there is the opportunity to gain more in a formalized manner. By assessing the specific needs of the women, challenges they face when accessing healthcare, and gaps in knowledge, we can have that much more of an impact by providing targeted solutions. My goal is to rely on existing partnerships the Salvation Army Center of Hope has in terms of healthcare professionals that already give back to the shelter, but also reach out to additional healthcare providers to form new partnerships. I additionally hope to expand the amount of topics we discuss such as managing diabetes and other chronic diseases which was expressed as a big need within the shelter. I am very grateful for The Allstate Foundation, Campus Compact, and the Levine Scholars Program for supporting this project. The monetary support and guidance has helped make a big impact on this community.