Angelica Lagares of Buffalo Prenatal-Perinatal Network describes her experience benefiting from their services before becoming an employee.
Angelica Lagares felt lost when she found out she was pregnant in early 2022. She didn't have a primary care doctor or a dentist and now she had to coordinate prenatal care.
As she scheduled transportation for a prenatal visit, Lagares was told she didn't have any health insurance. She was referred to Buffalo Prenatal-Perinatal Network. Lagares had never heard of the organization, but, she was assured, BPPN could assist with anything and everything she needed during and after her pregnancy.
"Within the same week that I tried to schedule my appointment, I had somebody knocking at my door to come see how I was doing," said Lagares, whose son, Ja'Kai, turned 2 years old in August.
Lagares, 23, is now one of those BPPN community health workers knocking on doors, building trust with pregnant Western New York women who need help - just like she once did - navigating everything that comes with pregnancy.
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BPPN, a nonprofit that focuses on improving maternal and infant health outcomes for high-need women and their families, has found success hiring former program clients. In fact, 20% of the agency's 54-person workforce are former clients, just like Lagares, said Marixsa Sanchez-Feliciano, program manager of BPPN's Community Health Worker Program.
"That's an advantage to us, because they've gone through it," said Sanchez-Feliciano, who herself was once a teenage mom. "If you don't understand what they're going through, you're not going to have the empathy to get them through."
Sanchez-Feliciano described the Community Health Worker Program as a "complete case management service." Last year, the program served 275 clients.
Sometimes, BPPN community health workers find pregnant women who are sleeping on the floor, because they don't have mattresses. Some haven't eaten in days. In one recent case, Sanchez-Feliciano said a client didn't have an ID card, so a worker spent the day helping to gather all the documents needed to visit the Department of Motor Vehicles to get the ID.
Other times, a community health worker may need to pick up clothes or food or transport a client to an appointment. Some need cleaning supplies. Others need to be connected to community resources. Sometimes, a client just needs somebody to listen.
"A lot of the women that work here have experienced being a single mom or being a teenage mom," Sanchez-Feliciano said. "They know what poverty is, and so that helps with understanding the population that we're servicing."
One of BPPN's goals is to reduce racial and ethnic disparities in maternal care. In New York, for example, Black people who give birth are five times more likely to die from pregnancy-related causes than white people who give birth. And many of those pregnancy-related deaths are preventable.
More statewide policies and initiatives have been developed to tackle these disparities. But it's still the on-the-ground workforce, like the community health workers at BPPN, that are crucial to building a rapport with women who often have good reasons not to trust the traditional health care system.
"Once they found me, they gave me a solid foundation to work off of," Lagares said. "They led me in the right direction."
'At first, I was skeptical'
At first, Lagares was fearful to ask for help. She had support from her mother, her family and her baby's father, but she needed help navigating the health care system and finding services.
Things got easier once she became a BPPN client when she was around six months pregnant. She started attending birthing classes and breastfeeding groups. And each time a worker came to check on her, they would let her know about other support groups the organization offered.
"At first, I was skeptical, because I'm like, 'I actually never heard of y'all,' " she recalled.
Lagares was quiet at first, attending the classes and listening. But she started to open up, getting comfortable in groups of supportive people who shared their own experiences. As the same people kept checking in with her, she began to trust them.
"Once I saw that it was a very caring, giving group, I was all in," she said.
Lagares remained a client until this past May and, at the same time, she was learning the ins and outs of the organization, capitalizing on training opportunities and setting the stage to become a bigger part of BPPN.
'I helped her'
Luz Feliciano remembers meeting Lagares.
Feliciano educated her on prenatal care, how to obtain care and maintain appointments as well as proper nutrition.
And if Lagares needed transportation to an appointment or class, Feliciano was there to pick her up.
Now, Feliciano and Lagares work in the same office.
"I'm really happy to see her here, seeing how she progressed from when she started until now," said Feliciano, a lead community health worker. "She's a very hard worker, and she puts everything into it."
Like Lagares, Feliciano is a former BPPN client who became an employee.
In fact, BPPN showed up at Feliciano's house in its efforts to recruit her, eager to get another Spanish speaker on staff. Seven years in at BPPN, Feliciano said she's glad the organization recruited her so aggressively.
"I love helping the clients," said Feliciano, who was pregnant with her first baby at 15. "It's a good feeling to see the clients progress in life and get to where they need to."
The opportunity to guide pregnant women is what lured Chevelle Wiggins to BPPN, where she's worked for six years and is a lead assessment and community health worker.
She remembered how the agency helped her during and after her high-risk pregnancy when she delivered her twins prematurely 17 years ago. As a single mom, the program helped her get items for her twins. And support groups, such as scrapbooking, were a crucial outlet for her once a month.
"I was in this position myself, so I know exactly how I felt, how society looked at me," said Wiggins, who worked with Lagares during breastfeeding support groups. "And now I'm able to help somebody and go home at night, like, 'Yep, I helped her.' "
'This is what keeps me going'
As Lagares learned more about BPPN, she knew she wanted to get more deeply involved.
In fall 2022, she joined the organization's Community Advisory Board - since rebranded as Courageous Advocates Breaking Barriers - that consists of female program participants empowered to become advocates.
At the beginning of this year, Lagares completed community health worker training at D'Youville University. In June, she became an intern at BPPN, working one day a week.
In September, the organization hired Lagares as a full-time community health worker.
For Lagares, it was a line of work she had always been interested in. After high school at Health Sciences Charter School, Lagares attended Medaille University and planned to pursue a career in social work. Lagares did a semester at Medaille but once the Covid-19 pandemic struck, she didn't return to school.
But finally, she feels like she's doing what she was meant to do.
It's a busy job with a fluid schedule and it will likely take two to three years to fully learn all the community agencies and resources.
It's a position where it can be difficult to leave work at work. But Lagares said helping clients and seeing the smiles on their faces as they progress is "why I do what I do."
"This is what keeps me going," she said. "I'll come back and do it again tomorrow, all the headaches and the work. It's worth it, because you made someone's life easier."
Jon Harris can be reached at 716-849-3482 or [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter at @ByJonHarris.
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