Improving women’s health through community partnerships

ashington Heights, the neighborhood in northern Manhattan that is home to the main campus of NewYork-Presbyterian/Columbia University Irving Medical Center, is a vibrant community with a diverse population. With a population that is more than 70 percent Hispanic, almost 40 percent with limited English proficiency, and around a 27 percent rate of poverty, many of those living in Washington Heights face significant barriers to accessing high-quality, affordable healthcare.

Through a collaboration with the Department of Ob/Gyn at CUIMC and NewYork-Presbyterian, a new role was developed in our department to address health for women in the community. Based on a community health needs assessment conducted by NewYork-Presbyterian, it was found that maternal and child health was an area with opportunity for improvement. Ana Cepin, MD, an Assistant Professor of Ob/Gyn at NYP/CUIMC, was appointed Director of Community Women’s Health, a new role focused on improving health outcomes for people in the community.

Dr. Cepin identified several goals, including providing excellent care through a health justice lens, improving health outcomes, and most importantly ensuring that the work we do is in direct partnership with the community.

“It is a vision and strategy for how our department can better serve the women of our community,” Dr. Cepin said. “A lot of the programs we’ve been focusing on are maternal health programs, giving us the opportunity to align obstetric, pediatric, and mental health service lines, and take care of the mother-child dyad. These programs help us address the social determinants of health that we know can have such an impact on health outcomes.”

Since Dr. Cepin assumed the role at the end of 2020, she and other members of the department have been involved in the development of numerous new programs, including a community health worker program, a postpartum doula initiative and the expansion of the Healthy Steps program, which tracks child development and connects caregivers with resources and services to foster child wellbeing. Dr. Cepin has also worked to improve relationships between Columbia and community healthcare providers, such as federally qualified health centers. These relationships will improve communication between our institutions.

“We’ve always strived to provide excellent clinical care to patients in our community, but in terms of going above and beyond and being more engaged outside of our physical walls, that’s important too,” Dr. Cepin said. “Sometimes once a patient is in our hospital, it may be too late to build trust with them and to have good communication, both with the patient and their other healthcare providers. Those are things you have to build before they come here. This role has given us the chance to build these relationships.”

Dr. Cepin was born and raised in Washington Heights, a community she feels dedicated to.

“It’s an amazing place,” Dr. Cepin said. “All people think about their childhood home that way, but Washington Heights is such a culturally rich and resilient community that has overcome so many hardships. My background is Dominican and Washington Heights feels like a home for the Dominican community. At the same time, our community faces so many challenges with immigration, language barriers, poverty, housing, and access to services. There’s so much need, so I always felt like I owed it to Washington Heights to serve it in whatever way I could.”