Making Patient Care More Patient-Centered

I serve as a community health worker at Advocate Trinity Hospital, a hospital located in South Chicago. In this area, we see high rates of chronic disease—asthma, COPD, sickle cell anemia, high blood pressure, stroke, and high cholesterol—accompanied by poor chronic disease management. As a result, readmission of patients with chronic conditions to the hospital, in particular the emergency room, are high.

The community health department at Advocate Trinity Hospital started a program called Project H.E.A.L.T.H. to address these issues. Many times, care in the hospital fails to account for all the factors that can influence a person's health; Project H.E.A.L.T.H. strives to change this through community health workers that help patients transition from the hospital to their homes. Community health workers act as patient advocates by providing health education, assisting with insurance enrollment, making appointments with primary care doctors and conducting home visits. Our goal is to provide comprehensive care to each patient and give them tools to better understand and improve their health.

Project H.E.A.L.T.H is a tremendous portion of my service year at Trinity, yet it took me a while to adjust to my role in the hospital. I remember one particular  morning when I really struggled with the fast pace environment of the emergency room- where nurses and doctors floated in and out of rooms. Yet, on that day I decided to approach Project H.E.A.L.T.H in a new way. I was not there to offer a service to patients, but rather, to listen and understand the needs of each individual. With a fresh perspective, I knocked on the door of my first patient,'Mr. D." and introduced myself. I told him I was checking in on him to see how he was doing. His suspicion slowly disappeared as we began to talk more. He told me about his children and gave me tips about surviving the Chicago winters. After a while, I asked if there was anything I could do for him because I wanted him to have all the resources possible to get well when he left the emergency room. He paused, and then asked if I could help him find a new primary care doctor because his current one is located too far away. We connected  Mr. D with a primary care doctor just a few blocks away from his house. When I gave him a call a week later, he happily told me he had scheduled an appointment with his new doctor.

Health is influenced by many factors. Here at Advocate Trinity Hospital we are aware of this and are continually trying to make patient care more patient centered. We hope to achieve this through the expansion of the Project H.E.A.L.T.H program. During my time at Trinity, I realized the only way I can make patient-care more patient centered is to get to know each patient I interact with and understand his/her needs.

This post was written by CHC member Hannah Lo.

Hannah Lo serves as a Community Health Worker at Advocate Trinity Hospital.