PACIFIC ISLANDER HEALTH PROJECT

PACIFIC ISLANDER HEALTH PROJECT. In 2014 Neil MacNaughton, a former Peace Corps member who lived in Micronesia and later an associate professor of nursing at the UNIVERSITY OF DUBUQUE, was asked to make a presentation about the MARSHALLESE population in Dubuque. The audience was hosted by MERCY MEDICAL CENTER. The presentation fit into the plans of Mercy officials who were looking for local populations to which they could reach out. Art ROCHE, Mercy's former director of planning, became the chairman of the Dubuque Pacific Islander Advisory Committee.

Reaching out led organizers of the project to focus on educating local health care providers about the Marshallese people and helping the Marshallese population connect with health services. Their work even drew the attention of the Micronesian population living in Maquoketa. In 2018 three staff members--a nurse, a social workers and a translator--worked with the project at the CRESCENT COMMUNITY HEALTH CENTER. (1)

Outreach worked both ways. Crescent Community Health Center CLARKE UNIVERSITY and a Marshallese women's group known as FANUL in 2019 organized a Getting to Know Your Marshallese Friends event event to observe the International World Day of Prayer, an important celebration in the Marshall Islands, and the 65th anniversary of a U.S. nuclear detonation on the Bikini Atoll. Under terms of the Compact of Free Association with the U.S. citizens from the Republic of the Marshall Islands, the Federated States of Micronesia, and the Republic of Palau are able to work in the United States indefinitely without a visa or green card. This agreement came about after March 1, 1954 when atomic tests on nearby atolls spread radioactive material on the people of nearby islands. Residents of these atolls were later evacuated to the United States. (2) One of the strongest supporters of efforts to help the Marshallese in Dubuque was Sister Helen HUEWE.

Funding the project came from many sources including grant money from the United Way of Dubuque. (3)

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Source:

1. Hinga, Allie, "UD Associate Professor Given 'Immigrant Champion' Award, Telegraph Herald, December 6, 2018, p. 3

2. Hinga, Allie, "Marshallese Reach Out," Telegraph Herald, March 5, 2019, p. 1

3. "United Way Awards $850,000 in Local Grants," Telegraph Herald, May 1, 2020, p. 5