Broderick Crawford Community Partnership Awardees: Linda D’Silva, Ph.D., PT, NCS, and Mariana Ramírez, MSW, LCSW

By Kelly Hale, Communications Coordinator

Jul 29, 2024

Project Title: Listening Sessions to Understand the Lived Experience of Latino Roofers and Construction Workers After Unintentional Head Injury

Linda D’Silva began researching mild traumatic brain injuries but noticed that there were very few Latinos in her study. And this made her wonder where they were going to seek treatment, or if they were even seeking treatment.

“Mariana and I had always talked about working on a project together so when I brought this to her, she was like ‘wait, we are not at this point yet’,” said D’Silva. “We first need to listen to these Latino workers and understand what they are going through.”

So, they applied to Frontier’s Broderick Crawford Award to listen to Latino workers in high intense jobs, like construction and roofing, who had experienced an unintentional head injury because one thing they want to avoid for these workers was a second injury which could be devastating.

“Our project has evolved as we initially planned focus groups and listening sessions, and then realized that the workers may not be comfortable talking in a group session about a work injury, so we switched to one-on-one interviews,” said D’Silva.

“Linda and I have known each other a long time, so when she brought this project to me, I was definitely saying let’s get JUNTOS involved and bring researchers and the community together,” said Ramírez. “Unintentional injuries are one of the main causes of death for Latinos, in part because of the occupations we have. We are overrepresented in the construction and labor-intensive occupations.”

And because JUNTOS had built a relationship with churches during the COVID-19 pandemic, they started with the Group of Parochial Health, which includes different churches in the Kansas City metro area.

And as they presented their idea, they received feedback that helped shape their next steps.

“Linda prepared a presentation with information about head injuries and the rate of injuries in construction, and JUNTOS intern, Alejandro Gutierrez, adapted a presentation on research for community members and both were presented as a training session for the leaders of these churches,” said Ramírez. “It helped them become more knowledgeable on head injuries and research and connect the data to the impact they see on their community.”

And as they continue to work on their project, they see additional needs that need to be addressed to continue to help not just building trust but help the community overall.

“At one of our first sessions, someone came in with a significant injury on his hand and fingers and shared his experience. We are so humbled that they feel comfortable sharing,” said Ramírez.

“And we offered to have him go to JaySTART, KU Medical Center’s pro bono clinic, to get his fingers and hand looked at,” said D’Silva. “And with a little help from Brenda Romo, JUNTOS bilingual Community Liaison, he went, and he followed up. We saw him three months later and he had full range of motion and said he learned a lot going to the clinic.”

And as far as their next steps.

“We’ll analyze our interviews qualitatively, share the information with the workers and community partners, and together develop next steps,” said D’Silva.

Added Ramírez, “My hope is that this will help us advance the learning and the understanding of the different barriers that the Latino community experiences when trying to access healthcare and that it will translate into programs and policies to improve such access.”

And as their community partnership relationships continue to grow, community engaged research can benefit.