For Immediate Release
This December, a local Queens family received a very meaningful gift – free healthcare for their children. The Health Plus employee who saw to it that the family received their free care also received a welcomed gift – the sense of helping a family in need.
The parents in this family, both of whom both are deaf, weren’t aware that their two children had been automatically enrolled in Health Plus, a government-sponsored health insurance plan. They were even researching paying for a commercial health plan for their children, as they didn’t realize that the children were eligible for free care. Because of a home visit program that Health Plus has brought back from a two-year hiatus due to funding reasons, the company’s outreach employees went out and paid a visit to this family.
“By showing up on the doorstep of a member, the outreach worker can communicate face to face with a member and access their health needs personally,” says Sergio Matos, Community Health Manager for Health Plus. “The community health education associate can then link the member up with the appropriate healthcare to suit their situation.”
In this case, community health education associates were able to communicate, in sign language, to the deaf parents, and educate them regarding all the services that their children were eligible to receive. The health education associates answered the family’s many questions, and even supplied them with a list of local doctors who were proficient in sign language.
“It was the first time I went on a home visit, so I was nervous, but when it was all over I was very proud because we really helped the family,” says Marilyn Morel, Community Health Education Associate for Health Plus. “During this season, it feels particularly good to give to those in need.”
A communication barrier prevented the family from initially receiving health care, but there are several other barriers that prevent even people who have health coverage from receiving the healthcare they need and deserve. Cultural barriers and geographical barriers are also common reasons. Another one, not surprisingly, is that many people just don’t know how to access healthcare. They find attempting to navigate through the medical system overwhelming.
This is why Health Plus is reaching out to these individuals, to educate them as to how to utilize their healthcare. Unlike any other HMO, Health Plus has an entire department, the Community Outreach department, which is devoted to improving members’ access to healthcare. The Community Outreach staff at Health Plus consists of 34 fully bilingual community health education associates who represent 15 cultures and speak a total of 10 different languages.
“Our outreach associates understand and respect the many different cultures that make up our membership,” says Matos. “The Outreach staff is a sophisticated resource, able to provide culturally- and linguistically-appropriate services to the members of Health Plus.”
An excellent example of how home visits are being utilized by Health Plus relates to infant immunizations. The Outreach Department researches which of its members has recently given birth and did not get the baby immunized. Outreach associates are contacting and in many cases now visiting these new mothers and encouraging them to get their baby vaccinated.
Under the direction of Margie Bowen, Director of Health Education at Health Plus, the community health education associates all recently completed a mandatory 40-hour course of training in preparation for this new home-visiting initiative.
The training focused on improving skills such as communication, organizing, linking to services, personal boundaries and safety, teaching skills, cross-cultural interaction, medical interpretation, and informal counseling. Other training sessions dealt with early childhood development, immunizations, family violence recognition, and crisis management.
“We are all very excited about developing this new ability at Health Plus and the expanded access to members that it will bring,” says Matos. “We believe this is an important capacity that helps Health Plus fulfill its commitment to providing quality healthcare that is culturally appropriate and responsible.”
Tom Early, Health Plus’s Executive Director, presided over graduation in December 2003, presenting the outreach employees with their certificates for successful completion of the challenging and comprehensive skills-based training.
“This new home-visiting capacity will enhance Health Plus’s ability to serve our members, as we have always done so successfully, one member at a time” says Early. “This outreach initiative is one more example of how our company keeps working to reach anyone in need of our care.
Deaf Family And Health Plus Staff Receive Special Gift For Christmas
HMO Brings Individual Tidings To Members' Home This Season
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The parents in this family, both of whom both are deaf, weren’t aware that their two children had been automatically enrolled in Health Plus, a government-sponsored health insurance plan. They were even researching paying for a commercial health plan for their children, as they didn’t realize that the children were eligible for free care. Because of a home visit program that Health Plus has brought back from a two-year hiatus due to funding reasons, the company’s outreach employees went out and paid a visit to this family.
“By showing up on the doorstep of a member, the outreach worker can communicate face to face with a member and access their health needs personally,” says Sergio Matos, Community Health Manager for Health Plus. “The community health education associate can then link the member up with the appropriate healthcare to suit their situation.”
In this case, community health education associates were able to communicate, in sign language, to the deaf parents, and educate them regarding all the services that their children were eligible to receive. The health education associates answered the family’s many questions, and even supplied them with a list of local doctors who were proficient in sign language.
“It was the first time I went on a home visit, so I was nervous, but when it was all over I was very proud because we really helped the family,” says Marilyn Morel, Community Health Education Associate for Health Plus. “During this season, it feels particularly good to give to those in need.”
A communication barrier prevented the family from initially receiving health care, but there are several other barriers that prevent even people who have health coverage from receiving the healthcare they need and deserve. Cultural barriers and geographical barriers are also common reasons. Another one, not surprisingly, is that many people just don’t know how to access healthcare. They find attempting to navigate through the medical system overwhelming.
This is why Health Plus is reaching out to these individuals, to educate them as to how to utilize their healthcare. Unlike any other HMO, Health Plus has an entire department, the Community Outreach department, which is devoted to improving members’ access to healthcare. The Community Outreach staff at Health Plus consists of 34 fully bilingual community health education associates who represent 15 cultures and speak a total of 10 different languages.
“Our outreach associates understand and respect the many different cultures that make up our membership,” says Matos. “The Outreach staff is a sophisticated resource, able to provide culturally- and linguistically-appropriate services to the members of Health Plus.”
An excellent example of how home visits are being utilized by Health Plus relates to infant immunizations. The Outreach Department researches which of its members has recently given birth and did not get the baby immunized. Outreach associates are contacting and in many cases now visiting these new mothers and encouraging them to get their baby vaccinated.
Under the direction of Margie Bowen, Director of Health Education at Health Plus, the community health education associates all recently completed a mandatory 40-hour course of training in preparation for this new home-visiting initiative.
The training focused on improving skills such as communication, organizing, linking to services, personal boundaries and safety, teaching skills, cross-cultural interaction, medical interpretation, and informal counseling. Other training sessions dealt with early childhood development, immunizations, family violence recognition, and crisis management.
“We are all very excited about developing this new ability at Health Plus and the expanded access to members that it will bring,” says Matos. “We believe this is an important capacity that helps Health Plus fulfill its commitment to providing quality healthcare that is culturally appropriate and responsible.”
Tom Early, Health Plus’s Executive Director, presided over graduation in December 2003, presenting the outreach employees with their certificates for successful completion of the challenging and comprehensive skills-based training.
“This new home-visiting capacity will enhance Health Plus’s ability to serve our members, as we have always done so successfully, one member at a time” says Early. “This outreach initiative is one more example of how our company keeps working to reach anyone in need of our care.
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Health Plus, a not-for-profit, multi-cultural organization, is one of the fastest growing managed care organizations in New York City. It was established in 1984 with a commitment to provide coordinated quality health care and improving access to health care for uninsured and underserved families. In its annual review of managed care plans, the New York State Department of Health ranked Health Plus as the top plan for quality in its 2002 and 2003 "Consumer's Guide to Medicaid Managed Care in New York City." Health Plus is New York City's leading provider of Child Health Plus, a New York State Department of Health program that offers parents FREE or low-cost health insurance for children under the age of 19. "CRAIN'S New York Business" magazine ranked Health Plus fifth among the largest health maintenance organizations in the New York area.
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