Q: What services do you provide at the Helen B. Atkinson Center?

A: Emmanuel: We provide a wide range of services in adult medicine, prenatal care, gynecological care, family planning and pediatric care for the Harlem community. We also provide specialty services such as dentistry and podiatry services, HIV testing and counseling services and nutrition help.

Q: What is Sister Link?

A: Maryam: SisterLink is part of New York State’s Community Action for Prenatal Care (CAPC) Initiative. This initiative, funded in part by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), is focused on providing resource and referral services and assistance in getting prenatal care to pregnant women who are at high risk for various life challenges, homelessness, diseases or health problems. Women we consider ‘high risk’ are those women who are less likely to have access to prenatal care.

SisterLink provides information to patients about prenatal resources in Northern Manhattan, and we also provide patients with referrals and escort them to clinics where they can get care. We collaborate with and train agencies that provide services to women who are at an increased risk for health problems during pregnancy. Our highly trained outreach workers search for high-risk pregnant women in shelters, food pantries and parks or who are incarcerated or just released from incarceration. We also find adolescents, substance abusers, and women with mental health issues in East Harlem and Washington Heights. Once our outreach workers find these high-risk pregnant women, they help them get the care they need regardless of their stage in pregnancy or other life challenging situations.

At SisterLink, we talk with the women we locate and make them feel comfortable with the idea of receiving health care. We then actually go with them to the clinic so they can receive care. For some women who have never seen a doctor before, this is a frightening and overwhelming experience. Additionally, pregnant women struggling with issues like homelessness or drug addiction are not necessarily looking for prenatal care. With so many other problems, they might feel a more pressing need to obtain basics like food, shelter or drugs if they are a user. 

Q: How are SisterLink and the Helen B. Atkinson Center working together to provide services to pregnant women?

A: Emmanuel: SisterLink is important to the Helen B. Atkinson Center because it connects our program to health experts that deal with issues related to domestic violence, homelessness, or other issues that we may not be equipped to handle. We refer patients to people like Maryam at SisterLink who would be able to handle those issues. The link between our organizations works the other way as well. If Maryam has a woman who might be a victim of domestic violence and seven or eight months pregnant, she will refer them to us so that we can provide the medical care she needs.

Maryam: As a resource and referral program, SisterLink benefits from connections with clinics such as the Helen B. Atkinson Center because of the medical help they provide. These connections also allow us to discuss various issues that may affect the health of pregnant women in Harlem. These discussions help up serve our clients better.

Read more from Emmanuel Durham and Maryam Husamudeen by clicking the links below:

• Importance of prenatal care
• Prenatal Care Assistance Program (PCAP)
• Helen B. Atkinson center and health in Harlem

To listen to our interview with Emmanuel Durham and Maryam Husamudeen, click here for our podcast page.

Harlem Word is a series of interviews with community health experts written by HHPC and reviewed by our Health Advisory Board.