by RYAN MILEJCZAK
Sponsored by Central Florida Health Care
Taking care of your health and wellness can feel overwhelming, especially for those who are also struggling to put food on the table or keep a roof over their heads. Although resources exist to help people facing these challenges, many are unaware of them or unsure how to access them. Even if they do know where to turn, it can be daunting to navigate the process alone.
That’s why Central Florida Health Care has navigators to help its patients find and access the resources they need.
“CFHC navigators are the people that help connect individuals and families in need with resources, support, and services,” explains Diana Perez, Enabling Services Coordinator and navigator. “The navigator is the key person in each CFHC clinic.”
As a Patient Centered Medical Home, CFHC is focused on a collaborative approach to healthcare that brings their team together as a family, and the patient is part of that family.
“We want patients to have the best experience ever,” she says. “We are here to help them, so they can feel comfortable and that they have a person — an expert — here who is like family to them.”
Every CFHC clinic location has a navigator on its team who works as a liaison between the community and healthcare providers, and the number of ways they help patients is nothing short of impressive.
“We do so much for the community,” Perez says.
Part of the navigators’ job is connecting patients with resources CFHC has internally: primary care providers, specialists, pediatric care, dental care, and more. But they know health doesn’t start and end at the clinic doors.
“Navigators also help the community with social needs they may have,” Perez explains. “For example, we can help them find resources for food insecurity or we’ll help them renew their SNAP.”
Other examples include connecting patients with resources for housing, transportation, health insurance, and even help for those exposed to violence. But navigators do more than just inform patients about these resources: they also work on the patient’s behalf to help them through the process.
“We can do applications for them and make the phone calls. We can help them with transportation and schedule the appointments for them to come here to CFHC or to go see specialists,” Perez says. “It’s a big job!”
In order to take on this big job, CFHC ensures the navigators are well qualified and well trained.
“All the navigators here at CFHC are Certified Application Counselors. As the Enabling Services Coordinator, my job is to train this team of expert navigators on their daily duties,” explains Perez.
This training consists of courses, certifications, readings, one-on-one meetings, and a meeting every three months to bring together different resources for the community.
“I had a patient come in for the first time who was around 82 years old,” Perez recounts. “She told me she was struggling with a lack of food. I looked into it, and it turned out she was receiving food stamps, but a very small amount.”
A short time before this, a representative had come by the office for a program that provides monthly stipends to medicare patients for paying bills and buying groceries. Perez remembered this and knew just the solution for this patient.
“I called her and told her that I think I have a program that can help you out. I helped her through the process of changing her insurance and getting this benefit, and that next time she came in she was so happy. I saw the biggest, most beautiful smile I had ever seen. That’s just one of hundreds of stories that we navigators have of how we’ve helped our community.”