- [Helen Voiceover] I don't
really have anybody to help me.
I'm pretty much by myself.
I have my cat, her name's CJ.
She's about the only
company I actually have.
Well I knew I had blood clots
because I've had 'em before.
I don't have transportation to get places.
I couldn't walk, I could
barely get across the street
to the grocery store and
once the pain got so bad
I couldn't stand it
anymore I called 9-1-1.
- So that's where I came in.
Helen Dalton is a client of mine.
Hey Helen, how are you?
- Hi.
- Can I come in?
I wanted to bring you
over a couple of things.
So I knew that she
struggled with some issues
with addiction and vascular issues.
So a lot of times a patient
will keep coming back to the ER.
One of my jobs is to
reduce the back and forth.
She feels a lot of times overwhelmed.
I believe there's a lot of
unreachability in her life
and that has had an impact
on her health and she could
really use the support.
- There's a lot of value that the
Community Health Advocate program brings.
One is our community health
workers see a dramatic reduction
in readmissions back to
our hospital facility.
- Some of the reasons why
individuals continue to come back
to the emergency room are
they may not be taking
their medications.
They may not have
transportation for follow up
doctor appointments so they
can in turn get sicker.
They may not have support.
They may live by themselves.
They may be homeless.
There's a ton of reasons.
(upbeat music)
- Community Health Advocates are placed in
our emergency departments and
our inpatient environments.
They receive referrals from
our case management and
social work teams.
Once they receive a referral
there's an initial assessment
that's completed.
It's about a 20 question survey
that goes over categories
of food insecurity, housing
insecurity, utility assistance.
Whether you have reliable
transportation access
to medical appointments.
Once the assessment is
completed, that gives the
Community Health Advocate more
information or an assessment
in order to figure out
what resources and services
they need to connect the patient to.
- Come on girl.
I went through a week of abdominal pain.
I thought I had the flu.
Come on girl.
And it got unbearable so I called 9-1-1.
(dramatic music)
And so the ambulance brought
me to Good Samaritan Hospital.
They found out I had
blood clots in my abdomen
that was obstructing blood
flow to my small intestine.
No matter what I've done
I've always been overweight.
And now we're finding out
the culprit is my thyroid.
In order to get to an
endocrinologist I need a
primary care physician who
gives me that recommendation.
And I'm hoping to get
that recommendation today.
Paul and Sherry and the
Advocacy program set up
for an Uber for me to go my doctors.
Uber will come and pick
me up, take me there,
and then take me home afterwards.
- How ya doing Mr. Rene?
- Hi Paul.
- Good to see you.
- Good to see you.
I didn't know how I was
gonna get there and they set
things up for me.
- My name's Dr. Sharma one
of the medical doctors.
- Okay.
- Welcome to our practice.
- [Rene Voiceover] It's hard.
It's humbling because I've
had a lifetime of being able
to do what I need to do
to make a living and now
I can't do any of it.
- And how are you feeling right now?
- I'm feeling good.
Taking time to get my strength back.
Paul and Sherry came in
and they helped us with
Social Security so I could
apply for disability.
And they came in and they said,
well you know we can help you
get set up on food stamps.
We can get you a government phone.
There's cash assistance available.
They've just been really amazing.
I'm really thankful.
- I just feel blessed to
be able to do the job.
And to be able to help
people and give people
the resources that they need.
- Several different things
that he's done that's
actually gave me hope.
It's how they treat people.
They just treat 'em good.
They treat 'em like they care about 'em.
- I'm very thankful because
they've stepped in and
said you need help in areas
that I didn't even know
I needed help in.
And extended a hand of
friendship and said,
let's walk this path together.
- [Male Voiceover] They're
solving the problems
that medicine simply can't solve.
(dramatic music)
