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JACKSON-HINDS COMPREHENSIVE HEALTH CENTER
SOCIAL SERVICES DEPARTMENT
MOTTO: “At Jackson-Hinds, your best health outcome is our goal.”
Staffed by Master’s Level professionals, the purpose of the Social Services Department is to address all needs and issues that impact health outcomes of patients served by Jackson-Hinds. While certainly not all inclusive, basic services delivered by the Department are addressed below:
Intake and Assessment: During this process, in addition to identifying and contact information, information is gathered about income, resources, living arrangements, employment, health care information, and other information as needed. Screens for depression, substance use, and relationship violence are routine during the process. Also, screens may be administered to determine the presence of anxiety, suicide ideation, and memory loss, as needed.
Patient Assistance: Through patient assistance, patients are helped to secure needed medication at no or very low cost. Along with medication prescribed by J-H providers, the staff will also assist patients with medication prescribed by specialists to whom they have been referred by a J-H provider. An example is working a patient’s cardiologist to help a patient secure Efficient through PAP for Plavix.
Social Security/VA Disability Assistance: Services provided by staff include assessment and education about how viable a claim may be and what is needed to strengthen a claim; help with filing initial claims, requests for reconsideration of denial of claims, and appeals; and advocating on claimant’s behalf with DDS. Staff do not serve as representatives at hearings or work with claims were legal representation has been retained. Similar services as described above are available for VA Disability claims.
Benefit Education and Assistance: Assistance in this area is determined by the patient’s Social Security Status. These are listed below:
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Early withdrawal
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Withdrawal at 65
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Delayed withdrawal
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Withdrawal from drawing spouses
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Survivors of beneficiaries
Medicaid Assistance: Staff is available to provide assistance with Medicaid and CHIP applications for eligible children and caregivers and for adult Medicare recipients who are also eligible for some form of Medicaid assistance.
Insurance Coverage: Social service staff helps newly insured patients understand coverage, out-of-pocket expenses, deductibles, in network care resources, formularies, and other related issues.
Health Education and Coaching: Social services staff support education provided by clinical personal by helping patients internalize and work new learning into their lives and environments. Example of the above was helping a mother placed on a restrictive diet gain the support and assistance of her spouse and two adult sons who were the proverbial “meat, potatoes, and sweets” men.
Coaching is used to help improve cooperation with medical plans for care such as keeping appointments and taking medication as prescribed.
Behavioral Health Assessment and Counseling: While possessing varying levels of expertise and experience, all staff are able to assess need for intervention, provide supportive counseling services to help with managing mild levels of depression. Also, all are familiar with SBIRT and Motivational Interviewing used in substance use counseling.
Grief and Loss Counseling: Current social workers are trained to provide the supportive counseling needed to help patients understand and navigate the grief and loss process.
Counseling for new diagnosis or prognosis change: Learning of a new health condition or that a current condition has gotten worse can lead to debilitating trauma for many patients. Often talking about feelings with an understanding and non-judgmental professional such as a JHCHC social service staff member can help patients through these difficult periods.
Counseling in this area has also been helpful in reducing patient anxiety about talking with providers about their health concerns, teaching the questions to ask about care, and processing information that they have gained from talking with providers.
Referral and linkage to community resources: Social services staff make referrals to community resources for housing, utility assistance, emergency food assistance, domestic violence, immigration problems, family problems, custody matters, and other needs as resources are available.
Social Workers are:
Alice H. Emanuel, LCSW
Kecia Graham, LMSW