Idaho’s Health Equity Champion: A Q&A with Palina Louangketh
June 26, 2023 | Robert Johnson
Palina Louangketh is chief for the Bureau of Equity and Strategic Partnerships of the Division of Public Health at the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare, founder and executive director of the Idaho Museum of International Diaspora, and a professor of multicultural studies at Boise State University. ASTHO spoke with Louangketh about her history as a refugee to the United States, her extensive work in expanding health equity in Idaho, and how her past has influenced her present.
What is the role of culture in how you approach your life and profession?
I'm the product of cross-cultural and cross-generational influences given my origin culture from Laos and what I’ve been raised in and surrounded by here in Idaho. These combined and evolving influences transformed me into the person I am today: who I am as a woman, who I am as a female leader in public health, who I am in a relationship with my friends, with my husband—the list goes on.
How has your family background and upbringing impacted your outlook?
My family's journey as former refugees from a war-torn country truly shaped who I am today. It elevated my awareness of the need to actively exercise empathy and compassion for humanity. It gave me a deeper appreciation for people who have gone through suffering, people who have endured trials and tribulations, people who have transitioned out of the hardships of life and remained resilient. Where those people are now, who they become, and how they influence society is something special that we can learn from.
What drove you to your work in public health and, more specifically, health equity?
It really stems from my cultural background and lived experience as a former refugee. My family's story evolved from us escaping Laos to becoming new Americans, and now I am witnessing a similar journey in others. I wanted to be part of that network of healthcare and public health professionals doing amazing things to create transformational and systematic change for people like my family.
Idaho is truly a special place to be, and my job is to look at the uniqueness and diversity that makes up the state and come up with creative solutions or opportunities to remedy the healthcare issues that Idahoans are facing.
People who are coming here—whether they’ve been impacted by geopolitical upheaval or climate change and natural disasters—have shifted my outlook on the role of public health and how we can serve them by meeting them where they're at; how we can meet their needs with programs to provide them with access to healthcare and to opportunities that every American should have.
Can you share what challenges you've had to overcome in your career—if any—and the importance of having opportunity?
I've always known what I wanted and how to achieve it, and I've worked hard to realize my vision. An important part of that was navigating the culture of leadership and its impact on organizational ability to enable career development, growth, and advancement for the workforce.
A challenge I’ve noticed is leadership’s ability to leverage the talents within their organization to advance organizational goals and missions. I've seen leaders enable great potential and opportunities for the workforce, but I've also experienced other leadership hindering some of those opportunities.
Who has been an important influence on your journey?
Hands down, my mom. As a former refugee, she has always said, “Don't let anybody tell you, ‘No.’” You need to navigate through those nos to get through your career journey. Not everyone will open the door for you, but that doesn't necessarily mean you won’t achieve your goal. You need to understand the foundations for that no and move forward, often having learned something from that no. I have carried that foundation my mom set in me through all walks of my life.
How have you been able to advance health equity from your current position?
We launched the Bureau of Equity and Strategic Partnerships in May of 2020, and I am its inaugural chief. Since then, I've been able to pull together opportunities that align with my vision as a leader in equity and also align with the state's focus on public health to promote, protect, and improve the quality of health for Idahoans.
Internally, we’ve convened the Equity Learning and Action Network for team members across the Division of Public Health to learn how we, as public health professionals, can come together and identify solutions within our respective programs. I also provide my team in the bureau with culture change and engagement management training to enhance their skills and confidence.
Externally, we convened a multidisciplinary group of stakeholders in the Idaho Health Equity Task Force, which I facilitate. I've also been able to convene the Idaho Tribes and Public Health Learning and Action Network, which is made up of leadership from the state as well as from Idaho’s five federally recognized tribes. We're also venturing into a new collaborative with the Idaho Transportation Department, where we get to work a little more creatively in identifying a transformational project where our departments can come together. Lastly, we are working to provide a structured framework for our Equity Lunch and Learn series, which will be a monthly educational series.
What advice do you have for other jurisdictions developing their own health equity initiatives?
We live in a globalized world, so my advice would be to explore opportunities at the local, state, and national levels and how they might be applicable in advancing into the global public health arena.
As we've become more globally accessible, we are at greater risk of the spread of infectious diseases—we experienced that with COVID-19. We know that while U.S. public health professionals are more involved at the grassroots level, at a global level, the focus is on how health-related problems and policy issues cross international borders. Global public health’s strategies and methodologies for disease prevention, management, and treatment center around the scalability of services and population health impact.
There is a huge opportunity for us at the national level—and even at the local or state level—to learn about what is happening around the world because they can be scalable models of practice for us in the United States. I think it’s a huge learning opportunity that we can harness at a global level and then scale down to the national, state, and local level.