On Friday, August 16, Adranae Mena finished up one of her last tasks as the Community Health Worker (CHW) Senior at RHHD’s Southwood Resource Center: she hosted the center’s seventh anniversary party.
Community organizations from Legal Aid Justice Center to Little Hands Virginia set up information tables, a testament to the relationships Adranae cultivated carefully and intentionally throughout her work. Recent graduates of Southwood’s parenting class stopped by to tell Adranae how the lessons she shared on self care and mental health were shaping their day-to-day lives. Kids ran through with churros and pink firefighting helmets, delivered by partners at the Richmond Fire Department. Best of all, Adranae turned the dance floor into a three-generation family reunion with her mom, sister, and daughter.
Public health has always been a family calling for Adranae. Her sister works in community outreach and education for Anthem, and her daughter staffs the Capital Area Health Network call center. Her mom also had a long career at RHHD, but her personal life inspires Adranae the most: “My mom has always been the kind of person who is resourceful and makes connections automatically. My parents opened their doors to everyone. Frances is everyone’s mother—my sister and I got used to sharing her!”
As Adranae transitions from her CHW role to a new job as RHHD’s Maternity Navigation Coordinator, she sees herself following her mother’s footsteps. Her mom worked with the Richmond Healthy Start Initiative Grant, where she supported the Consortium and Community Advisory Board on Infant Mortality from 2002 until 2019.
“In my mom’s work on infant mortality, they identified a significant unmet need.” Adranae says. “They were trying to understand what led us to this point. Now, in maternity navigation, I’m on the front lines, working to address these issues before they escalate. If we can prevent abuse, ensure access to healthy food, and connect people to the right programs, we can help bring healthy babies into the world. I feel like I’m continuing the work she did behind the scenes. Even though she’s retired, I still enjoy sitting with her for feedback this helps me identify the key areas that need our focus.”
The Maternity navigation team connects expecting parents to important medical and social resources both during pregnancy and after. In this new job, Adranae draws on her time as a CHW, as a Capital Area Health Network employee mentored by Tracy Causey, and as an RHHD “Resource Mother”. In that last role, she supported teen moms-to-be throughout their pregnancies: “I sometimes drove them to doctors’ appointments when they didn’t have transportation. I also followed up on their schoolwork—having a baby didn’t mean they couldn’t finish school.”
Adranae explains that supporting families through pregnancies and the arrival of new babies is a critical part of the public health mission: “Maternity navigation includes WIC, Medicaid, and outreach. Every program we have at the health department plays an important role. We need safe pregnancies and support pregnant mamas—without that, we go back to infant mortality. If we can support mamas and papas early then that’s one less thing they have to concern themselves with. And we want to set them up for success—it’s not about having them lean on us to the point where they can’t navigate through life.”
For Adranae, public health is about connection—pregnancy is a time to highlight community connections so that our littlest neighbors can grow up healthy: “When I reflect on my own culture, there was a strong sense of community—a village of friends, family, and cousins who would help care for the baby so you could take care of yourself. They made sure you were well-fed and hydrated, ensuring you could nurse your baby without worry. I see us trying to return to that sense of village and community, and I believe that’s the role doulas and community health workers play today. We walk hand in hand with our clients, supporting them every step of the way.”
As Adranae steps into a new role, she shares some advice for families with new babies and people interested in community health work below!
