The purpose of the Health Outreach to Marshallese in Enid (HOME) Network is to establish culturally competent patient navigation services to a targeted population of at least 2,800 Marshall Islanders from Enid, Oklahoma’s rural population of 51,000, who have a lack of health care knowledge, a lack of awareness of community resources, cultural barriers, and access barriers, including a lack of insurance and transportation. The Marshallese have financial constraints, language barriers, deeply rooted religious beliefs, such as that God will cure ills through faith and prayer, a fear of blood, needles, and surgery, and conflicting ideas about time and priorities (Coffey et al., 2016).

 

These cultural and financial barriers lead to poor population health and increased costs, creating challenges for area health care providers, as well as for service providers who work to address the social determinants of health care, including social services needs, housing and transportation. By planning and establishing a new health care network, the HOME Network project team brings together medical and social service providers who can serve as liaisons with the Marshallese community and who are able to address language and cultural barriers that lead to poor health outcomes for this population.