Helping People as a Whole

Posted on May 2, 2013 by admin| Leave a comment

mestrada2012Last month, we sat down with Migdalia Estrada, a Community HealthCorps Navigator at StayWell Health Center in Waterbury, CT. Migdalia’s role at StayWell comprises reaching out to individuals in the community to help them learn more about StayWell’s services. In the audio clip below, we prompt Migdalia to share what works well about this outreach. Migdalia also elaborates upon the impact of outreach in the community, sharing how outreach can help people “as a whole.”

Migdalia’s Interview

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Posted in Community HealthCorps

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Micaela and Mark’s Practical Practicum Experience

Posted on April 24, 2013 by admin| Leave a comment

This is a guest post by Micaela Eisenhandler and Mark O’Brien, students in the MPH program at UConn, who just completed a practicum experience at CHCACT.

We are MPH students at UCONN and sadly today is our last day at the CHCACT office. We had a great time here and just wanted to share with all of you what we’ve experienced.

Micaela and Mark with the "giant pill bottle" on their last day.

Micaela and Mark with the “giant pill bottle” on their last day.

We started at the office on a cold crisp day in early February, fresh faced and ready to save the world one policy at a time. We came up to the CHCACT floor through the lovely pitch black construction elevator, with the only light coming from the pressed buttons. Fortunately there were lights on in the office, and all of the staff was eager to meet us and tell us about what they did with CHCACT.

Our official preceptor was Deb Polun, director of government affairs and media relations. During our time here we worked on a variety of projects that were relevant to both our and CHCACT’s interests. Micaela worked with Deb to write testimony, attended Public Health Hearings and participated in many meetings that involved the fight for Medicaid Husky Part A. Micaela was also able to attend many other meetings with the many different boards Deb works on. The two of us were also able to spend our Friday nights being part of the budget meetings in the early season.

As a pharmacy and public health student, Mark worked on various pharmacy related projects, such as visiting the Cornell Scott-Hill Health Center and asking their pharmacy director how to use pharmacists to their full potential in the other health centers. Mark also worked on how to decrease the amount of prior authorizations on Medicaid prescriptions as well as how to encourage patients to follow up on medications that required authorization.

Together, the two of us worked on a research project about how to divert non-urgent and avoidable emergency room patients to community health centers. We hope that future interns will continue the project. Overall we had a fantastic experience at CHCACT. We learned about how to navigate the field of public health politics as well as the importance of health care advocacy and community health centers. We recommend the practicum to other interns who are excited about learning the same!

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Posted in Policy

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Something for Everyone in Your Family: Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP)

Posted on April 4, 2013 by admin| Leave a comment

By Heidi Elsinger, CHCACT Outreach Programs Manager

Food insecurity is an issue facing many people in Connecticut. The term refers to not being able to obtain enough food to meet your basic needs at all times. According to the Food Research and Action Center (FRAC), about 15% of households in Connecticut were faced with food insecurity at some point during the previous six month period.

snapThere is help available for those who need it. In addition to the state’s food banks and pantries, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP – formerly Food Stamps) helps people purchase the food they need. Eligibility for the program is tied to the federal poverty limit and household size, and benefits are determined based on the household’s expenses. You can still qualify even if you own a home and/or a car.

People who receive SNAP can shop for foods they prepare at home at grocery stores, farmer’s markets, bodegas and corner stores. SNAP benefits can also be used to purchase seeds. So, if people have the space, they can use their benefits to save money by growing their own food at home.

snapbannercroppedThe program exists to support people in meeting their basic food needs. Several successful and in some cases famous people including lawyers, politicians and athletes have used the program when they’ve needed it to make ends meet. Click here to see some of SNAP’s alumni.

Click here to find a SNAP Outreach worker who can help you find out if you might qualify and help you fill out an application.

This program is an equal opportunity provider and employer. Funded by the US Department of Agriculture.

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Posted in SNAP

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AmeriCorps Week 2013: Working to Get Things Done in Connecticut

Posted on March 25, 2013 by admin| Leave a comment

Guest post by Sheri Pascal, Community HealthCorps Navigator at United Community & Family Services in Norwich, CT

At any typical recognition event, there may be speeches, flowers and certificates, but with AmeriCorps, there is service. More than 80,000 AmeriCorps members are presently engaged in direct service and capacity building activities. AmeriCorps Week, March 9-17, recognizes the commitment of members and alumni by highlighting the extraordinary impact we make across our nation every day.

Riverfront Children's CenterOur Community HealthCorps Program, the largest health-focused, national AmeriCorps program, chose to perform service at two ends of the state. On Saturday, March 9, Community HealthCorps Navigators went to Riverfront Children’s Center in Groton, CT. We helped organize their Family Resource Room, their conference room and helped get them ready for construction of a new classroom. Riverfront Children’s Center’s goals of bringing affordable childcare and educational services to children of families who are working, in school or training, especially the underemployed and working poor, fits in with HealthCorps’ ideology of serving this same population.

Community HealthCorps NavigatorsThe second project Community HealthCorps engaged in was participating in a service project at the Discovery Museum in Bridgeport, CT. Community HealthCorps Navigators teamed up with Youth Health Service Corps to paint, organize and help beautify the inside and outside of a very busy, interactive museum of science and technology. Our efforts were very much appreciated by museum staff, as well as local legislators, Senators Musto and Ayala, who came by to thank us.

AmeriCorps Week shows us that service takes many forms. What is truly important is giving back and making an impact. This year’s theme, AmeriCorps Works, truly reflects our group’s commitment to the people we serve, the recipients of our service and to the larger community and nation. I, for one, am truly proud to be one of the 80,000 who has taken the pledge of “working” to get things done to make America safer, smarter and healthier.

Check out tons of photos from these service projects on Facebook!

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Posted in Community HealthCorps, Events

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Health Centers’ Reach: Why Cuts to Health Centers Hit Hard

Posted on March 7, 2013 by admin| Leave a comment

Guest post by Jesse Grant, Outreach Coordinator at Charter Oak Health Center in Hartford

As an outreach coordinator for a federally qualified health center, I am on the front lines every day in Hartford. The people I meet and the experiences I have all have led me to believe that everyone should have access to health care. Unfortunately, a new proposal from Governor Malloy would decrease the income limit for parents on HUSKY A from 185% to 133%. The people who would lose access to HUSKY under this proposal are parents of children and are living very close to the poverty line. They will not be able to afford to buy health insurance on their own, as they often cannot afford some of the most basic things in life, like a new pair of shoes for their children or nutritious food for their families. I feel so strongly about this that I testified to the Connecticut General Assembly asking them to reject this proposal.

Charter Oak Health Center

Charter Oak Health Center

Fortunately, everyone can get quality health care at health centers like Charter Oak, because no patients are turned away. But without HUSKY, many of these parents will lose the sense of security it provides and they may put off their own health care needs as a result. And health centers like Charter Oak do rely on HUSKY for some of the funding that is necessary to keep them running and to continue to provide needed services.

In my role at Charter Oak as an outreach coordinator, I spend every day in shelters, churches and at city events, seeking out people to try to re-engage them in their health care. The individuals with whom I work are down on their luck but they can come to the Charter Oak Health Center and get the services they need, regardless of whether or not they can pay for it – and they will be treated with respect.

A health outreach fair at Charter Oak

A health outreach fair at Charter Oak

Just this week, I met a family from the war-torn country of Sierra Leone – a woman, who had been raped and shot repeatedly; her father, who had hidden in the jungles for years; and her boyfriend, who had been run over by a car. They had endured years of war and personal harm and are now in America. At Charter Oak, we are going to get them the services that they need to build their new life. Where else can they go to get the health care and other services they need?

That’s why health centers like Charter Oak are so important for our state. Health centers – and their patients – need support from legislators in Connecticut.

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Posted in FQHCs, Policy

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