In the United States, many immigrant women and underserved families face enormous barriers to healthcare access. For some, health insurance is financially out of reach. For others, language barriers create fear, confusion, or mistrust within medical systems. And, in reproductive healthcare settings, those barriers can become even more urgent and dangerous.

Working on multilingual community health projects is often described in terms of coordination, timelines, and deliverables. But the reality of this work is also emotional, relational, and deeply human.

For the recent Community Health Assessment project with Contra Costa County Public Health, my role was to support …