Community Spotlight: Health Brigade
For Giving Tuesday this year, we are honoring the work of Health Brigade, one of Richmond’s most impactful community health organizations. Keep reading to learn more about their impact.
Health Brigade (formerly Fan Free Clinic) has provided exceptional health services to those least served for over 50 years, offering care in a deeply compassionate and non-judgmental environment. Born in the era of peace, love, and social change, their work began when two doctors, a nurse, and a minister came together to serve those that were underserved within Richmond’s inner city. Their grassroots vision has grown into the inclusive and vital organization Health Brigade is today.
Health Brigade is proud to be an inclusive organization, ensuring that no one is turned away due to sex, race, color, age, national origin, religion, disability, genetic information, marital status, sexual orientation, gender identity, citizenship, pregnancy, veteran status, or any other protected status. Their commitment to equity and dignity in health care makes them a powerful partner in community wellness.
Below is a patient story they shared titled, ‘The Weight of Her Love’.
The Weight of Her Love
A STORY OF MOTHERHOOD, CARE AND RESISTANCE
It starts from the very beginning, from the first moment of knowing, we carry them- some of us in our bodies, all of us in our hearts. There is a way that motherhood shifts our insides that changes us forever- in our physical body, our spirit, in the way that we love.
The very real weight of that love can feel heavy and hard at times and in other moments it is a joy like no other, making it difficult to explain with mere words. Sometimes we just wear it on our face- the burden, the bliss, the fear, the weariness, the pride, the love.
When she came into the medical clinic that day, it was all there, including a bad back. A quick trip out to her car to help her revealed the why. Her preteen daughter with cerebral palsy was sitting in the backseat. There was no wheelchair in sight. She was carrying more than any mother should ever have to, literally lifting her daughter in and out of the car, the school bus, the bed, each and every day.
It became clear that the way to care for her and what she needed most was for us to listen and provide support for her children.
Our Community Health Worker, Emely, did just that. We had to move beyond our walls and right into her everyday burdens.
She went with the mom to the pediatrician, to the school and provided translation, advocacy and a companionship in the middle of so much. It was simply someone to carry it with you, to know you aren't alone. It's what every human needs, maybe mothers most of all.
A wheelchair, diapers, food and mental health care for two siblings with special needs helped to bring some stability and fulfilled our promise to help lighten her load. But for some of us, the weight of the world always seems to find a way back. Just this August, while on her way to the grocery store to buy food for her family, she was stopped, detained and deported to the country she fled under violence.
For three days her family had no idea where she was, what happened and had no chance to say goodbye.
Now a dad is left to carry a new weight on his own and a mother carries the unimaginable burden of being separated from her children.
It's hard to wrap your mind around it all, this tragedy and sadness, but we return to what we know, that Care is Resistance. The kind of care that sees people fully, honors their humanity, meets them where they are, gives them exceptional healthcare and insists on dignity for all- even in the darkest moment, especially in the darkest moment. It is the care that says, "We are still here, no matter what."
So that same Community Health Worker stepped in again to make sure the support, longer term resources and the care for kids would continue...for that mom, and for all the aching love she still carries.
HEALTH BRIGADE | 1010 NORTH THOMPSON ST. RICHMOND VA 23232 | 804.358.6343