In the fall of 2017, the Angel Harvey Family Health Center began a new service model known as Care Coordination. Since then, our Pediatric Care Coordinators have helped IWS to ‘raise the bar’ on patient care.
Pediatric Care Coordinators have made an enormous impact on the quality of care we provide our patient families by connecting families to life-enhancing services both inside and outside our family health center home. The patient-centered Care Coordination model is a “deliberate organization of patient care activities between two or more participants involved in a patient’s care to facilitate the appropriate delivery of healthcare services”. Our families are always happy to let the Care Coordinators know how much the support they receive from Care Coordinators means to them.
When a young pregnant mother along with her autistic child moved to Chicago from Guatemala, they had little to no resources. Relocating to the United States is no small feat, and the family faced many challenges and barriers. One of her toughest challenges was finding the support to help her understand and navigate some of Chicago’s systems and locating community resources like food and clothing. In the patient’s own words, “I am thankful for the support that I received through Care Coordination. I received resources available in my community and I was able to enroll my child in a child development program because of the support that I received. I’m very grateful.”
Our Pediatric Care Coordinators work with the medical assistant and the provider to complete the circle of care for patients. Pediatric Care Coordinators provide health education to parents and families, resource referrals and follow up with patients and families if they miss appointments, among other services. Currently, the care coordination model is available exclusively for the pediatric department. Keep in touch for updates about this and other programs and services at the Angel Harvey Family Health Center.
