Breaking the Chains of Disparity in the Glades

A Palm Health Foundation Scholar is Breaking the Chains of Disparity in the Glades

Jan 31, 2023

The sign outside the new Empower Healthcare clinic in Pahokee, Florida, pledges to provide “The healthcare you deserve.” Inside the modest tan and brick building that sits on the grounds of First United Methodist Church, nurse practitioner and Palm Health Foundation nursing scholar Dr. Jinga Oglesby-Brihm is delivering on the clinic’s promise by providing much-needed health services interlaced with dignity, trust, and love—a word she often uses to describe her care for the people of the Glades region.

“I want this to be a place where we are loving on the community,” she said.

Dr. Oglesby-Brihm fell in love with the Lake Okeechobee community while studying for her doctorate at the Florida Atlantic University Christine E. Lynn College of Nursing, a dream made possible by a Palm Health Foundation scholarship. As a Doctor of Nursing Practice student, Dr. Oglesby-Brihm made house calls in the Glades, an experience that opened her eyes to the rural area’s healthcare disparities. Affordability, transportation, and access (many women’s, mental health, and specialist services are 20 miles away or more) impact the health of residents. Encouraged by her late husband, Mashawn Brihm—her clinic partner, inspiration, and legacy—Dr. Oglesby-Brihm began to envision a new dream: to strengthen the Glades community by increasing access to healthcare regardless of ability to pay via a clinic, virtual visits, and house calls.

“FAU taught me that you should honor yourself as you work hard to service the community,” she said. “Honor your degree and training and disseminate what you know to help people.”

When Dr. Oglesby-Brihm met Annie Ifill, project director of Healthier Glades, a Palm Health Foundation initiative, her dream started to become a reality. “A lot of folks have gone for years without getting any type of medical care,” Ifill said. A Healthier Glades mini-grant funded Dr. Oglesby-Brihm to deliver healthcare services through churches in the Glades, which are places of trust—a deeply needed component for residents who have suffered inequities for generations. “As a nurse, I had to dig deep, to understand how trust holds community back from the services or people who want to serve them in the right way,” Dr. Oglesby-Brihm said.

Believing she needed to make the services a permanent fixture, Ifill helped her connect with First United Methodist Church, now home to Empower Healthcare, a primary healthcare center and women’s health provider. The clinic opened on September 10, 2022. Funding, partnerships, and recognition quickly followed. The Promise Fund of Florida funds pap smears and mammograms. A partnership with Project ECHO® will link a comprehensive model of care and specialists via teleconferencing in early 2023. Incorporating mental health services through the Sandler School of Social Work at Florida Atlantic University integrates mental and physical health for Glades residents “to change behavioral patterns to achieve the health they want.”

Dr. Oglesby-Brihm’s comprehensive, innovative care for the rural Glades community has captured national recognition. She placed second in the American Heart Association’s Empowered to Serve Business Accelerator, awarding her training and a grant of $25,000 to help her grow her health clinic. For Dr. Oglesby-Brihm, her ability to grow is so much more than providing needed services.

“My moon shot is breaking the chains of healthcare disparity; to meet residents where they are, provide the healthcare they deserve, and help them achieve the best quality of life they want to have so they can reimagine their future.”

About Empower Healthcare
empowerhealthcare4all.org

Our desired outcome is to empower individuals with accurate knowledge and proficient skills to advocate for their healthcare and personal needs and to close the gaps in care and healthcare disparities in a comprehensive community-centered approach.

Offerings:

Adult primary care services
Women's health
HIV prevention
Cancer, diabetes, and hypertension preventative screenings
Mental health (coming in 2023)
Free health educational seminars, and chronic disease management programs

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