b'Its a Wednesday evening in November when be resourceful. She pulls out her phone and uses a language the time change and early nightfall make it hard to leavetranslator app. Within moments she learns that the boy is ill, your house after about 5:30 p.m. Nevertheless, a group ofand they were hoping to find one of Cone Healths mobile community members flock to Vance H. Chavis Library for aclinics at the library. Muriel hands the mother a calendar free, heart-healthy cooking program provided by Cone Health. detailing where and when to find the mobile medicine units, and helps her get an Uber so that she can make it to urgent Muriel Holt, a community health worker, arranges chairscare, where her son can be seen immediately. and sets up a few tables with pamphlets. Two co-workers join her and get busy laying out vegetables, premeasuredWere trying to be the connector, Muriel later explains. If spices and small chunks of chicken. The room begins to fillwe cant help, we have partners all over this community who with community members here to learn how to shop for andcan, so we listen and learn what is needed, and we make the prepare meals that are both delicious and nutritious.proper connections.Muriel greets everyone as they walk in. Welcome, welcome!I might help somebody download the Guilford County she says, hugging a few who are repeat guests. pantry app or get them on MyChart. I might ask if they have a primary care physician or know about the free preventive Two women take their seats with a young granddaughter inscreenings we offer. Maybe they need a voucher for a tow. Blue and white beads decorate the childs braids, and hersmoking cessation program.feet barely graze the floor as they swing.Muriel is part of Cone Healths Center for Health Equity. Her Meanwhile, a couple peruses the table of handouts whereteam of community health workers is small but hoping to Muriel stands. The man selects one about sodium substitutesgrowMuriel is a project coordinator, Tysheanna Williams is and says, I need that. Muriel engages him in conversation. a community care guide and Ricardo Davis, their supervisor, is assistant director of health communities. Soon, the room is warm and alive with a blend of mouth-watering scents and community engagementa buzz ofWith Cone Healths focus on prevention, community health questions and answers covering the best ways to prepareworkers like Muriel are the people out in the neighborhoods, foods, which cooking oils are healthiest and the benefits ofmaking sure everyone they talk to knows how to access each kind of vegetable.care so that manageable health challenges dont balloon Muriel isnt here to lead the class; thats the job of guestinto something serious or even life-threatening. Most often, chef Natalie Hunt and Cone Health dietitian Maggie Mays.challenges come in the form of barriers to health: lack of As a community health worker, Muriel is here to answer thetransportation or caregiver support, difficulty affording questions you cant predict, the ones that arise when a doorprescription medications, mental health issues or confusion is opened. Soon enough, a door does open: A mother andabout how to navigate the health care system. her young son hesitantly walk into the room about midway through the class. Theyre not here for the cooking lesson, butOur mission and vision is to be right there in the they need help. Muriel converses with them momentarily andcommunities with them, Muriel says. We see their needs, then guides them to the main library space to talk. and were trying to be actionable. We try to do our part to align everyoneall of the organizations that are out there They are Spanish-speaking. Muriel is not, but in a communitywith servicesto stop working separately and instead as diverse as the Piedmont Triad region, she knows how towork together.the giving effect202419'