STAR Program Profile: Jean Richard

Jean Richard is a Community Health Worker with the STAR Program’s Supportive Counseling Program

It’s a road Jean Richard has traveled himself, having moved to New York City from Haiti seven years ago. As a Community Health Worker with the STAR Program, he helps New Yorkers, many from the Caribbean or Africa, navigate health and social services, and to put down roots in Brooklyn and beyond. 

“I feel very passionate about helping others,” Jean said. 

He acts as a guide, companion and advocate, reminding patients of their appointments at the STAR Health Center or with specialists, accompanying them, translating, helping them navigate social services, and explaining their rights. “To educate them and empower them,” he said. “To let them know they have rights.”

Jean started out in New York City as an Educational Case Manager with the Welcome Back Center at LaGuardia Community College, working with foreign trained healthcare professionals. He worked with nurses in particular, assisting them through their path to become re-licensed in the United States.  

He next worked with community-based Harlem United.
“We tried to reach out to women,” Jean said of his work in Harlem and the Upper East Side. “Since the neighborhood was very diverse, they were mostly African, French-speaking people from West Africa. I would train several of the people as peers, to encourage people to get tested and know their status, to use condoms and safe-sex practices.”

He joined the STAR Program at SUNY Downstate in Brooklyn in September 2015, putting to work his background in social studies, and his associate and bachelor’s degrees from BMCC/York College of CUNY. He also grew up in a culture of helping, Jean said.
Haiti lacks some of the social services, health and educational opportunities of other states and nations, but people help each other there.

Jean said he left Haiti for stability, like many others starting new lives in New York.
“America is like the beacon,” he said. “It’s not the perfect model, but you look at it and are like, ‘Wow!’ It’s the leader of democracy of the world, and when you come from a country with turmoil, you look for a country with more stability. That was my motivation, in coming here.”

The position with the STAR Program was closer to his home in Brooklyn, which he shares with his wife and children, and closer to a large population from his home Island. Jean said when he walks through Flatbush, former neighbors, school classmates and old friends from Haiti call out to him on the sidewalk. He finds familiar brands in the grocery store and his favorite food in local restaurants.

“You don’t have to totally break with the way you used to live and what you used to eat,” Jean said. But connecting every member of the community with opportunity is what he enjoys most about working with STAR.

“That keeps me running,” he said. “That makes me feel useful and part of the solution. I’m very passionate about social justice and I believe marginalized people – people from the LGBTQ community, elderly people – need access to services. We are all human beings, and need a good quality of life.”

The STAR Program at SUNY Downstate Medical Center offers a variety of health services in Brooklyn for New York City. Call 718-270-3745 for an appointment or for more information.

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This post was written by suny-admin