Imam Sharif Mohamed, co-founder of Open Path Resources, helped set up the Muslim spiritual care program at Hennepin Healthcare. Credit: Dymanh Chhoun for Sahan Journal

Muslim spiritual care offers comfort — and improves patient outcomes — at this Minnesota hospitalFor years, Hawa Ali, a psychiatric nurse practitioner at Hennepin County Medical Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota, has provided Qurans to her Muslim patients to help them through the worst of their mental health crises. In recent years, however, those patients have also benefited from an additional resource: Muslim spiritual care providers. 

Hired by Hennepin Healthcare, these care providers have helped reduce readmission rates for Muslim patients by more than two-thirds in the hospital’s inpatient psychiatry department, reports Sahan Journal. “There’s mistrust of Western treatment, but I see people, when they have a spiritual care member approach them, they can face their challenges and regulate their behaviors,” Hawa says. 

This approach stems from the medical center's initiative, done in partnership with local nonprofit organization Open Path Resources (OPR), which allows patients to request spiritual care as part of their medical care plan, meeting the demands of patients in a changing Minnesota. 

“We’ve seen a large increase of individuals who practice Islam,” says Christine Hauschildt, a spokeswoman for Hennepin Health. “The entire patient population has changed over the past decade, and there’s been more demand in serving, especially, the Somali community.” 

Sahan Journal reports that the program's impact has reduced hospital readmission rates for Muslim patients, from 24% in 2019 to 9% in 2023. Another positive outcome? Spiritual care providers are helping patients and their family members see that medication is not against the religion of Islam and that mental illness is not spiritual illness, says OPR co-founder Imam Sharif Mohamed. Read more here →

Angela Johnson poses for a photo as trucks carry coal ash from the TVA's Allen Fossil Plant to a landfill in Memphis, Tennessee, on May 26, 2022. (Credit: Getty Images via Prism)

Federal agency approves Tennessee pipeline through communities of color, raising costs and environmental concernsAs part of her work with Memphis Community Against Pollution, Yolanda Spinks, who was born and raised in a majority-Black community in South Memphis, Tennessee, is challenging the country's largest methane gas project, approved by The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA). Determined to be a “good ancestor” and leave her community better than she found it, Spinks tells Prism, “We have a duty to each other."

In 2021, the TVA announced plans to decommission its remaining coal-powered plants by 2035 and replace it with technologies that could support fracked methane gas, which is often referred to as “natural gas” in the energy industry. The energy agency claims that transitioning to methane gas would bridge the gap between coal power generation and more renewable energy sources like wind, water and solar power.

However, Spinks and other Memphis residents aren't buying the argument. 

They see the federal government’s plan as a facade that supports the fossil fuel industry at the expense of Black and Brown communities. With a long history of divestment in Memphis dating back to the early 19th century, the city has long felt the effects of disinvestment and environmental racism. Prism reports at least 66 polluting facilities are within Memphis' borders, including two Superfund sites, which can leach chemicals like arsenic, chromium and nickel. Spinks says ozone pollution and high asthma rates are common concerns among residents.

Read more here →

Teens and young adults are struggling when transitioning from pediatric to adult careTransitioning from pediatric care to adult healthcare can be a daunting experience for teens and young adults. The change can leave many feeling abandoned by the familiar safety net of pediatric care, as they may grapple with new responsibilities like scheduling appointments and managing medications on their own.

A recent community-led youth research project by NewYork-Presbyterian (NYP)/Columbia researchers sheds light on the struggles faced by young people, particularly those from Black and Latino communities, when transitioning to adult care. The study is pending peer review, yet Epicenter-NYC highlights other studies and spoke with experts that underscore the disorganization often associated with youths' transition from pediatric to adult care.

“Often in society, they’re kind of pushed to the side as if they’re annoying at that age, where people are like, ‘oh, they’re bucking against authority’ and doing all of these things that developmentally, it’s been studied, should be done,” says Dr. Anderson-Burnett, who examines how adultification bias affects Black and Latino youth in healthcare.

Epicenter-NYC spoke with a medical expert who offers tips for youth transitioning to a new doctor →

Highlighting the innovators transforming health outcomes in our communities

Minnesota resident Mai Thor is a Hmong refugee from Laos who contracted polio at a young age. She now dedicates her life to disability justice advocacy, including challenging the taboo of disability within her culture and racial justice movements. "My hope is that other people can come to that point in their life, too, and just be comfortable in their own skin." → 

Credit:

Kerem Yücel for MPR News via

Sahan Journal