Village of Care makes healthcare fun

 

A Village of Care is coming to Liberty Park in East Central Spokane, which sits in a healthcare desert.

"A freeway cuts through the neighborhood. Clinics are sparse and, for many residents, the healthcare system is something to avoid, a place they encounter only in crises, often in fear," said Anna Franklin, who founded Maji Rising to change that.

In one summer weekend, a PopUp Village of Care will give a glimpse of those larger changes.

With Maji Rising, Anna's long-term vision is to create a housing community that advances wellness, healing and justice through culturally grounded care and collective action.

In the two-day community event on Saturday and Sunday, Aug. 22 to 23, at Liberty Park, attendees can access free healthcare screenings, back-to-school exams, dental and mental health care, housing and resource navigation, nutritional support services and holistic health offerings in a setting with music, cultural storytelling and activities for children to elders.

"It is a living vision of what becomes possible when people are cared for like family and communities are given the resources they need to thrive—not just survive," she said. "The Village of Care is not just an event. It's a prototype.

"We will meet people seeking health care, acknowledging their fears of judgment and high costs, and fears of feeling unseen or dismissed," Anna continued. "Our goal is to replace fear with joy by providing what each individual needs the way they need it, not the way we think they need it."

To demonstrate community care as a collective act, the Village of Care will bring together health-care providers, wellness practitioners, cultural leaders and small businesses with nonprofits and neighbors in a temporary "village" where people can access support without shame, fear, barriers or judgment.

In the weekend village, there will be free healthcare and wellness services, housing and employment support, youth and family programming, food access, cultural performances, healing spaces, music, art and movement.

"This is what care from the community looks like when it comes," said Anna. "We believe care should find us before the crisis does.

"The Village of Care is about connection and belonging. It's about joy. It's about creating spaces where our community feels seen, valued and poured back into," she continued.

The weekend event is designed to be a living demonstration of Beloved Kijiji, Maji Rising's long-term vision for a 72-unit, mixed-use affordable housing community in East Central Spokane, centered around healthcare, wellness, culture, food and community healing.

"The name is a direct nod to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr's vision of the beloved community, a world where every person is seen, receives the care they deserve as a human being and where neighbors are compelled to show up for one another," Anna explained. "That vision is not abstract. It is the blueprint."

 "Kijiji, the Swahili word for 'village,' expresses our belief that healing happens best in community," added Anna. "It is designed to help people feel alive, welcomed and human while they access whole-person wellness resources."

Maji Rising envisions building Beloved Kijiji with Take Up the Cause, founded by Chauncey Jones. It combines his work and expertise in affordable housing and generational wealth with Anna's vision for and expertise in understanding healthcare systems and delivery.

The Village of Care weekend is supported by Waters Meet, Spokane Parks and Recreation, Catholic Charities, Arcora, Washington Women's Commission, Avista Foundation and individual donations.

Joy and education are built into the event.

For example, someone coming for dental care will be greeted by a tooth fairy with a magic wand.

In addition, every service at the Village of Care will be paired with a STEM activity.

"We will meet people where they are," she said. "We want every person who comes to feel like we have been waiting just for them, like they are loved and seen."

For the PopUp Village of Care, Anna is still working on recruiting volunteers, sponsors and local providers.

Anna brings 34 years of healthcare experience rooted in Spokane and extending across the country through her work in Lean Six Sigma process improvement, clinical systems, and finance and health equity.

Anna grew up in Michigan before settling in Spokane where she graduated from Rogers High School.

Thinking she would be a city planner, Anna studied urban and regional planning at Eastern Washington University, graduating in 1998.

In 2016, she earned Lean Six Sigma Master Black Belt Certification and a master of business administration from West Texas A & M University in Canyon, Texas.

Since then, she has woven her planning background into her healthcare career, spanning what she calls the patient continuum of care in the laboratory, imaging, outpatient, clinic, hospital, rehabilitation, long-term care and assisted living settings.

Bringing together her education, lived experiences and professional experiences, Anna analyzes systems to reduce structural inefficiencies in delivery of care.

Now she also works with healthcare teams to identify disparities and build more equitable systems and structures.

Three years ago, she founded Maji Rising to offer a new healthcare approach based on what she has learned by listening to people at community meetings, focus groups, church gatherings, encounters at sports events and one-on-one.

"I have heard people's fears about seeking health care and learned about gaps, perceptions and lived experiences. The fears are about the inaccessibility of health care, the mixed quality of outcomes and the need of individuals and families to be able to afford the health care they desire," said Anna, who has also heard people's fears about moving from primary care to specialists and, when aging, about moving to assisted living.

A recent trip to South Africa expanded Anna's vision of what healthcare can look like.

There, she connected with Indigenous and modern healing practitioners who use touch, scent and sound—including drumming and singing—as part of care.

She witnessed healthcare woven into the fabric of daily community life, including a surgery center inside a shopping mall.

"Healing doesn't happen only behind closed doors or at the end of a long referral chain," she said. "It can meet people where they are."

Beloved Kijiji, which is projected to open in 2028, will include a healthcare clinic serving both residents and the surrounding community along with providing other wraparound services.

Anna said she chose East Central Spokane for it, because it's where she felt most comfortable when she moved here.

"It's where I belonged, where I laughed, where I cried and where I loved," she said. "Some places choose us.

"Spokane is a beautiful community, and we must open our eyes, hearts and imaginations to new ways to deliver care here that is culturally responsive, accessible and trusted," said Anna.

For information, email maji1619@outlook.com or visit majirising.org.