Northwell Health signs five-year partnership with GPHC
By Tangerine Clarke
The Georgetown Public
Hospital Corporation (GPHC)
in Guyana, will get a medical
boost from residents of Northwell
Health University Hospital
on Staten Island, whose medical
personnel arrived in the country
recently to augment care, and
forge cultural ties, while training
physicians in tropical medicine,
according to the hospital’s
website.
The Ministry of Health in
Georgetown recently, welcomed
the team of residents to discuss
and finalize a five-year strategy
and to discuss long-term housing
needs for medical residents
training in the country.
The report said, “the partnership,
aims to address disparities
in Guyana by supporting and
enhancing a variety of services,
and also looks to address disparities
here in New York by broadening
cross-cultural understanding
with the communities of Little
Guyana in Queens — as well
as surrounding neighborhoods
that makeup the fifth largest
immigrant population in New
York City.”
“Addressing health equity at
home also means addressing the
health care needs abroad,” said
Eric Cieo Peña, MD, Northwell’s
director of the Center for Global
Health (CGH) who explained that
“medical education is also about
understanding your patients,
their culture and value systems.”
“All of this comes with trust
and showing our surrounding
communities that have become
increasingly diverse, that Northwell
Caribbean L 14 ife, March 11-17, 2022
understands their cultural
needs and what’s important to
them. This partnership is a winwin
by strengthening Guyana’s
health system and secondly,
strengthening Northwell’s relationship
with the people of Guyana
and Little Guyana,” said Dr.
Peña.
Guyanese in the Diaspora,
excited about the medical news,
shared a video of a news report
on Pix 11, on social media platforms,
where Dr. Peña explained
that doctors want to help immigrant
communities in New York,
“that is one of the reasons they
were heading to Guyana.”
“How do I communicate with
a community that has been disenfranchised,
that haven’t been
target for vaccination campaign
or COVID testing campaign, all
the things we see as discrepancies,
and disparities right now,”
said the health professional.
Dr. Eric Cioe-Peña and Hon. Dr. Frank Anthony, minister of Health for Guyana signed a fi veyear
medical partnership to expand medical education, surrounded by medical personnel.
Northwell Health Newsroom/Drupal News Guyana
“We are learning, and they are
learning, we are just trying to
help each other’s growing development,”
said Dr. Peña, director
of global health at Northwell
system, and an emergency physician
on Staten Island.
“Because we are so proximal
to the Guyanese population in
Queens and taking care of an
enormous patient population of
Guyanese-Americans we see it as
a multi-prong approach,” he said,
adding “that is why going there
to understand how their health
problems begin is important.”
Dr. Peña, while being interviewed
by Guyanese-heritage
reporter, Jennifer Bisram, shared,
“there are things that communities
are genetically, or pre-disposed
to things such as elevated
rates of cardiac disease found
in West Indian Americans. We
see elevated rates of suicidality
and mental health issues. We are
seeing problems that may have
started in Guyana like prenatal
care and end up in Long Island,”
said the physician.
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