Sourced from: Mahoning Matters
Originally written by: Kelcey Norris
A pediatrics, gynecology and mental health clinic first opened in 2022 to decrease racial disparities in care for Black women and children in Cuyahoga County and northeast Ohio.
By the end of 2025, the CEO of Village of Healing is planning on expanding to Youngstown with help from local advocates and state representatives.
Expanding Village of Healing to Youngstown
Village of Healing is an inclusive and culturally sensitive healthcare environment founded to address the needs and experiences of Black women.
Dàna Langford, the co-founder and CEO of Village of Healing, worked for 16 years as a certified nurse midwife.
The Ohio Department of Health data shows Black women are twice as likely to suffer from short- or long-term health problems resulting from being pregnant and giving birth compared to white women. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Black infant mortality rate is three times higher than the rate for white infants. “In 2022, the most recent year CDC data is available, 5.7 white infants in Ohio died per every 1,000 births, while 13.4 Black infants died,” according to the Ohio Newsroom. The new clinic will be located at the former Bottom Dollar grocery store on Glenwood Avenue in Youngstown.
State Rep. Lauren McNally advocates for Village of Healing
About two years ago, State Rep. Lauren McNally (D-Youngstown) saw a presentation by Village of Healing in Columbus. Langford said the Youngstown representative wanted to act on the research about disparities in healthcare for Black women and infants in northeast Ohio, specifically in her area. “She advocated for us, and county health officials all visited Village of Healing,” Langford said. “The city of Youngstown and Mahoning County has defined for us what true partnership looks like, and what it looks like when the city and county wants to put their dollars into making a difference in their constituents and in their community.”
Last month, Rep. McNally announced Village of Healing would receive $188,525 for the new clinic in Mahoning County, which came from the Ohio Department of Health and the Ohio Department of Children and Youth.
“Our state really needs to step up when it comes to maternal and infant care,” said Rep. McNally. “I’m thankful the Village of Healing is receiving these dollars, but I would love to see us doing more throughout the state in this space.”
Langford said she’ll be looking to hire healthcare providers who are from the Youngstown community to work at the new clinic.
“All of my providers and my staff are actually from the communities that we serve. We also think of ourselves as an economic engine,” Langford said. “If you have a patient that comes in who needs to exercise, and they’re telling you they don’t live in a safe community. If you know that community, you’re able to give them answers and solutions of where they can go instead. and still be able to be whole and healthy.”
Langford thanked several other leaders in Youngstown, including Mayor Jamael Tito Brown and city health commissioner Erin Bishop.
“The fact that they are actually putting their dollars in to ensure that Black babies and Black moms are making it and not only surviving, but thriving — it speaks to the culture of Youngstown, the culture of the county and to the elected officials on how much they truly care about their communities,” she said.
How did Village of Healing get started?
Langford said several experiences inspired her to start the clinic in 2022, including reading discouraging reports about healthcare in Cleveland and a trip to Ghana.
While working at one of the northeast Ohio hospital systems, Langford was asked to sit on committees that talked about infant and maternal mortality.
“However, when we were in the rooms, we didn’t see anyone that looked like the communities that were being ravished,” she said.
These committees weren’t adequately representing the struggles faced by Black women and children severely impacted by structural racial disparities, Langford said.
“There were a lot of Black organizations that were coming before these committees to have conversations with them about different solutions they had found, but they were pushed aside, or given pennies on the dollars compared to the large hospital systems,” she said.
Then Langford took a trip to Africa where she said she visited the slave duties in Ghana.
“That was a very spiritual experience for me,” she said. “I became very in tune with ancestors and recognized my passion was to ensure that my community was healthy and safe. When I returned in 2019, we started the Village of Healing as a non-profit, a community development organization to focus on decreasing racial disparities and improving outcomes in the Black community.”
In February of 2022, Langford and co-founder Tenisha Gaines officially started seeing about 40 patients at the Village of Healing clinic, located at 22344 Lakeshore Blvd. in Euclid.
“What we knew and what the data shows us is that when your provider looks like you, your disparities decrease, so your outcomes are better. The patient satisfaction rates are increased, as well as the idea of informed consent,” Langford said.
Since opening, the clinic successfully expanded to a second Cuyahoga County location.
“We are the solution. We’re seeing it in our numbers, and so I have no intention whatsoever to slow down,” she said.
Now Village of Healing offers mental health services, primary care and pediatrics services, which Langford described as a feeling of “disbelief.”
“We have the results now,” she said. “Black women and Black families are finally being heard and feeling like they’re being taken care of, and their health is actually being put in the forefront. Their problems are being listened to, and action put into place to get them whole and healthy.”
