Episode 94: ROOTS Community Health Center - Healing our Community From Within

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Roots Community Health Center Programs and People

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"We are taking charge of our community. And Dr. Aboelata has coined this phrase years ago, healing our community from within. And we do have to look into ourselves to help heal what ills our communities"-Aquil Naji

Over the past two-plus years, our community health care centers have faced many challenges in an ever-changing landscape, forcing them to adapt and evolve their outreach and delivery of both health care and comprehensive wrap-around support services to the most at-risk members of our community. Welcome to our special on the importance of our community health care centers and how they are being impacted by the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic. In this episode we are featuring the voices and work of Roots Community Health Center.

Noha Aboelata, MD

Noha Aboelata, MD, is nationally recognized for her work to expand access to health care for under-served communities. Committed to a vision of community-rooted health care that addresses each person’s “whole health,” Dr. Aboelata founded Roots Community Health Center in Oakland, California, where she was born and raised. Roots is dedicated to eliminating health disparities through comprehensive, top-quality health care integrated with navigation services and empowerment initiatives. Under her leadership as Chief Executive Officer, Roots has grown from a small operation of volunteers in 2008 to a multi-site nonprofit employing over 35 staff and serving a patient base of 10,000. In 2013, Dr. Aboelata founded the Community-Rooted Provider Coalition (formerly Roots Health Alliance), a professional association of providers who actively collaborate to expand access to high-quality, culturally competent care in California’s East Bay. Before founding Roots and the Coalition, Dr. Aboelata served in senior executive roles for Tiburcio Vasquez Health Center in Hayward and the Native American Health Center in Oakland, where she implemented multiple service innovations and expansions. In 2000 and 2001, Dr. Aboelata paved the way for expanded publicly-funded primary care services in four East Oakland neighborhoods and seven other Alameda County communities by obtaining their designation as Health Professional Shortage Areas. Dr. Aboelata earned her medical doctorate from Howard University in 1998 and served as a National Health Service Corps Fellow from 2003 to 2005.

Aquil Naji

Aquil Naji, Chief Operations Officer of Roots Community Health Center, was a member of the original Think Tank that preceded the organization’s formation. Mr. Naji is an experienced businessman, a compelling and inspirational leader, and a passionate community advocate dedicated to empowering marginalized people and eliminating health disparities in East Oakland and surrounding communities. As COO of Roots, Mr. Naji is responsible for overall operations, infrastructure, security, licensing, and facilities management.

Before joining Roots, Mr. Naji worked in the private sector where he honed the wide-ranging skills in management and business administration that make him the effective and highly regarded organizational leader he is today. Mr. Naji brought with him 16 years of experience in business management in the private sector and 9 years of health care operations and management. In addition to his expertise in management and operations, Mr. Naji possesses the intuitive ability to motivate, inspire, and build cohesive, mission-driven organizational cultures to perform his duties as Roots’ COO.

From 2002-2006, Mr. Naji operated a successful bail bonds franchise with three locations in the East Bay and employed twenty-two bondsmen. As a bail bondsman and franchise owner, Mr. Naji underwent a rigorous licensure process and was held accountable to strict regulations by the California Department of Insurance. During the five years in which Mr. Naji operated his franchise, he not only acquired the specific management and organizational skills required for this profession, but he also recognized the racial disparities in the criminal justice system and began advocating for his clients within his capacity as a bail bondsman. Eventually, Mr. Naji decided to sell his prosperous franchise in order to pursue endeavors that would allow him to work directly as an advocate for African American men and to apply his knowledge about the criminal justice system to eliminate disparities within the complex culture it fosters.

As COO of Roots, Mr. Naji’s talents as an operations manager and devotion to understanding and passionately advocating for the needs of African American men eventually manifested in 2013 in the Roots Emancipators Initiative (Emancipators), a workforce program for men reentering society after incarceration. This program was created as a pilot in partnership with Alameda County Social Services Agency. As Program Director, Mr. Naji designed Emancipators to incorporate on-the-job training with a curriculum that provides rudimentary education in basic chemistry and math, weights and measurements, metric conversion, manufacturing industry standards, and quality control. Importantly, the Emancipators Initiative also utilizes innovative methodologies to address the barriers to long-term stability many reentry individuals face, such as psychosocial factors as well as arrears child support, DMV and IRS issues, outstanding warrants, and restitution. Drawing on his years of experience working within the criminal justice system, and applying his ability to advocate securing relationships with key agencies, businesses, and community members, Mr. Naji created an effective system by which these barriers can be removed. Mr. Naji’s remarkable ability to motivate, inspire, and mentor those with whom he works contributes to a program that improves the quality of its participants’ lives by helping them to cultivate their individual strengths and navigate the world with a sense of empowerment, self-respect, and pride.

Mr. Naji’s broad professional experience coupled with his dedication to compassionate and effective management make him a dynamic and well-respected leader within the Oakland communities in which he affects powerful change.

Mr. Naji received his AA from De Anza Community College, his degree in Dental Prosthodontics from the University of the Pacific, and his degree in Mortuary Science from the Institute of Mortuary Science in San Francisco, CA

Ky'Tavia Stafford-Carreker

Ky'Tavia Stafford-Carreker is an incoming PRIME Drew medical student at Charles R Drew University of Medicine and Science/David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA. She completed her undergraduate degree at UCLA, with a major in History (with departmental honors) and a minor in African American studies. While at UCLA, Ky’Tavia founded Afro Latinx Connection in order to “bridge the gap between the Afrikan diaspora and Latinx communities as well as to educate those on Afro Latinxs and their existence.” In addition, Ms. Stafford-Carreker completed an honors thesis (https://tinyurl.com/kythesis) that utilizes an oral history case study of women in her own family to detail the violent reproductive racism Black women face in medical and social service settings. As she is passionate about women's health, she plans on becoming an OB/Gyn and doing a dual degree program in the history of medicine.

Roots Community Health Center

Founded in Oakland, California, the mission of Roots Community Health Center is to uplift those impacted by systemic inequities and poverty. We accomplish this through medical and behavioral health care, health navigation, workforce enterprises, housing, outreach, and advocacy.

Roots Community Health Center was founded in 2008 to address troubling health issues in East Oakland. The vision of Roots was to become a community health center serving area residents who need it most. It began as a residence-based program, targeting members of our community with the greatest need.

Namely, Roots sought to impact care for men in our community who lacked health care coverage or access. This is because traditionally, supportive services are more readily available to women in society, leaving men out. Roots focused its efforts primarily on men reentering society from prison, men with substance abuse and mental health issues, and young fathers without a traditional support system.

Our medical team provided care to these men on-site at various re-entry programs, substance abuse facilities, and fatherhood programs. Not only were medical services provided at the time and place of need, but patients were signed up for programs and services to benefit them as well. By providing medical care on-site, appointments were convenient and accessible. Many emergency room visits were avoided, and patients were able to attend their programs, training, classes, and jobs without interruption.

This initiative, later named Fit4Work, is based on the belief that health is a prerequisite for sustainable employment and entrepreneurship; and that stable income is a contributor to good health. Roots have since developed initiatives that aim to increase job readiness, employ-ability, job retention, and less reliance on “the system.”

Donation/Volunteer

+ Get engaged in supporting Roots Community Health Center through making a donation.

+ Find out more about how to support the Roots Community Health Center’s Social Enterprise Clean 360 through shopping for Clean360 products at Clean360 dot org or stopping by the shop and factory at 4107 Broadway in Oakland, California.

+ To become an Employer Partner and hiring Roots Community Health Center Social Enterprise and program participants please email admin@rootsclinic.org

+ You can donate supplies such as office supplies, medical equipment, blankets, diapers or other items by emailing admin@rootsclinic.org or calling 510-777-1177. To find out more about volunteer opportunities please email admin@rootsclinic.org

Videos

Find out more about Roots Community Health Center Programs and Services through these videos

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