Ep. 65 | Britt Eben, Partnership Health & Kristin Patten, South Health District

Transcript

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Welcome to what Brings You In Today, a podcast from SMC health. I'm Kara Hope Rockwell and I'm Erika Bennett. And today we are joined with Britt Eben, director of development at Partnership Health Center, and Kristin Patten, director of communications with South Health District, Georgia Department of Public Health. And today. Well, what brings you here today, ladies? We are here to talk about, a healthcare navigation initiative that we are building together with the Department of Health, the County Partnership Health, and that is the County Care Compass, which is kind of just a simple guide to help people navigate our local health care so that they know where to go, when to get the most out

of what's available to them. I love that because we all know healthcare is so confusing. Yes, even if you work in healthcare, I felt you're still learning something new every single day. So yes, I'm doing everything we can to help our residents know where they should go is so important. So let's talk about first, just if you want to introduce yourselves each separately and kind of what role you play in your specific organization okay.

Yeah. So I'm Kristin Patton, I'm the director of communications for the Georgia Department of Public Health, South Health District. We cover ten counties across south central Georgia, including county. And we are, you know, your health department. We are the immunizations, the back to school immunizations, getting your flu shots. We also, of course, are your annual health screenings for family planning, access to birth control.

We do infectious disease detection and investigation. And so I get to tell all of those people's stories every day. Always have the best job. Yeah, the best job telling people stories for sure. And I'm even and like you said, director of development with Partnership Health Center and Partnership Health Center is a primary care clinic here in Valdosta that exclusively treats uninsured adults.

And so we provide that home base for people who might have trouble finding access elsewhere. And as director of development, I basically just do communications and fundraising. But I like to think of that as education and connections to where I get to tell people about the work that we do and connect them to it and help them find ways that they can get involved.

Yeah. So both of you are passionate about improving public health and access to care. What drew you to this type of work. So I've always had a desire to tell people stories and to be able to help my community through that. And so I worked in journalism for about a decade and loved it. And then the opportunity came up with public health in 2019.

Yay. And then who knew what 2020 was going to hold for us? But I always knew that I wanted to help my community by telling stories. And so now that's what I get to do. Every day. I get to tell the good work that our staff are doing, all of the services that we offer. And so that's kind of how I fell into this job, and I love it so much.

00:03:02:15 - 00:03:26:21
Unknown
I like helping people. It's like, I like when someone I know of someone's need and I can connect them to something or someone that can address that need. And on a personal level, I know what it's like to navigate the health care system without insurance and the insecurity and the fear that goes along with that. So to work for a clinic that excludes or is dedicated to addressing that gap is really, really cool.

00:03:27:03 - 00:03:48:15
Unknown
Absolutely. Yeah. I mean, I really connected with what you said about not having insurance, and I can't imagine how many people are out there that are uninsured and are worried about something about their health, but they just don't know what to do and how to get care. So tell us a little bit specifically about how partnership health center works and what they offer.

00:03:48:17 - 00:04:09:19
Unknown
Okay. We are your standard primary care clinic. So when you think of and I know primary care is not necessarily a term that the general public really understands what that means, but it's your home base for health care. So it's the first place that you start. It's the doctor that knows you the best because they walk along your journey with you.

00:04:09:20 - 00:04:35:09
Unknown
And so that because when you go to urgent care, which is great and very valuable, it's a one off. You know, you're not seeing the same doctor every time. You don't build a relationship with them, because that's not what it's meant for with primary care. It's meant to build that relationship. And when partnership got started, they started as a community coalition, and they started to address specific things with grants that they got.

00:04:35:10 - 00:04:57:10
Unknown
And as a result, what they realized is the people who were at most risk for those issues escalating, such as like hypertension and diabetes, that they were people who lacked access to primary care. And so it showed a hole that we could fill to help those areas. And so that's how the clinic came about to create that home.

00:04:57:11 - 00:05:20:07
Unknown
And, yeah, that's that's what we do. And with the Department of Public Health, our focus is of course, more on the preventative care. So we like to say we want people to be healthy on purpose. We want you to take purposeful steps in your health care. Be intentional and intentional. Be intentional about how you take care of yourself.

00:05:20:10 - 00:05:41:15
Unknown
Get those vaccines to prevent vaccine preventable diseases. Make sure that you're protecting yourself. Make sure that you're, you know, taking steps to know your blood pressure, know your cholesterol, get that prenatal care. And for a lot of people, insurance can be a struggle and they may not be able to afford it. They may not have access. They may not have transportation to go see a specialist.

00:05:41:17 - 00:05:59:00
Unknown
And so that's what the health department does. Of course, we serve individuals with insurance. Without insurance, it does not matter what your insurance coverage is, what your age is. We want to serve you at the health department and make sure that you get access to that care so that we can hopefully keep you from getting sick, ending up in the emergency room.

00:05:59:00 - 00:06:27:06
Unknown
That's whenever issues become bigger is whenever you don't look at them proactively, you look at them reactively for sure. I mean, we've done now what's over 60 plus episodes of on this podcast, or sit down with physicians and talk. And the common theme across every single provider is that that prevention is key. And really taking that first step to make sure you have a primary care access to primary care, and you're taking care of yourself so that you don't end up in a bad situation.

00:06:27:07 - 00:06:48:22
Unknown
Yes, it clogs up the emergency room whenever you don't. If you end up sick, if you don't watch your blood pressure numbers, your blood sugar numbers, and you end up having a heart attack or having a stroke, having those things, then you end up in the emergency room. If you would just pay attention to those numbers. Stay aware, stay informed, meet with your primary care regularly, and make sure that you're staying on top of your health.

00:06:48:23 - 00:07:10:06
Unknown
Then we can hopefully alleviate some of that strain on the emergency room so that they can be available faster and quicker for those who really need it. Yeah, a large number of our patients actually come to us through referrals from hospital stays or emergency room visits, and they're dealing with escalations of chronic conditions that could have been managed with preventative care.

00:07:10:08 - 00:07:36:18
Unknown
And so we see it every day. The power of that preventative care in alleviating the need for an escalated service. Yeah. You mentioned this earlier about urgent Caribbean like one offs. And and and to your point here about the emergency care is we do look at that data sometimes and like a large portion of patients that we either treat in an urgent care or in the hospital setting do not have an identifiable primary care provider.

00:07:36:23 - 00:07:56:04
Unknown
So that's also one of our goals is to help them get connected with someone when we can. So again, you can start that care. Unfortunately, you don't want it to have to be a hospital visit that wakes you up and to the need for, taking care of yourself. But that just kind of is a reality around here in South Georgia.

00:07:56:06 - 00:08:17:20
Unknown
People find most of them that they need a doctor when they're having an issue. You wait, you know, you put it off, right? That's where this health care compass comes in handy, though, and this collaboration of all of us, because it a lot of times they just don't know where to start being able to navigate that and figure out, okay, well, I have this issue or I don't even know if I have this issue and I don't know how to find out if I have this issue.

00:08:18:00 - 00:08:36:19
Unknown
And so thankfully, this compass and all of us working together to start this initiative really will hopefully alleviate some of that and answer some of those questions that a lot of people have. And we know this is a first step. Like, obviously we're not going to be able to hit every single access point with the beginning of the Care Compass, but we need to start somewhere, you know?

00:08:36:20 - 00:09:01:11
Unknown
And so we're doing the very obvious and just kind of the education of where to go when the right care, the right place at the right time so that people can feel empowered and engaging with health care because it is worth it to learn how to navigate your health care. As frustrating to you as a patient to because it's either going to be financially better for you, time wise, it's going to be more convenient for you.

00:09:01:12 - 00:09:24:14
Unknown
So there's things that benefit the patient in this, and that's what it's all about. It's not about like who we're trying to serve or boost any of our numbers. It's about doing what is best for the patients. And they have the best experience in the best outcome. Yes, exactly. So let's talk through that a little bit. What are some of the factors that people should consider when deciding between primary care, urgent care and emergency care?

00:09:24:16 - 00:09:50:06
Unknown
That is an excellent question. I cannot answer it as extensively as it could if I was actually a health care provider, but based off of our care compass, we really kind of are organizing it around urgency, right? And so that's where the primary care becomes your anchor piece. But emergencies are for those life threatening, you know, broken bones, big large scale emergency type.

00:09:50:09 - 00:10:11:18
Unknown
You know, we say emergency all the time because it defines itself. Yes. Your life is on the life threatening that that's when you go to emergency care. And the urgent care when when you see care and primary care together, because they can work very well together. You know, it's like a lot of primary care do offer urgent care options for their established patients, right.

00:10:11:20 - 00:10:39:08
Unknown
And so it's like if you can't get in with your primary care provider, go to care. You know, it's like, I wouldn't ever tell someone, don't go because you're unsure. Like if you know of a place, go and then learn you're going right. Like don't go just because you're not sure. But urgent care is for those like sick visits, you know, or you need a question answer or you need your blood pressure checked, you know, kind of thing, and then your primary care is everything else and then some.

00:10:39:09 - 00:11:04:09
Unknown
And they're also your access point to referrals and learning more about how to use those other resources. So one thing we've kind of I've noticed when I talk to people who come to our E.R. sometimes that they are like, may be disenfranchized when they leave because they feel like they didn't get their issue taken care of. But when they come to the E.R., they bring every other issue that they've had for the last ten years.

00:11:04:11 - 00:11:32:20
Unknown
And the E.R. is not set up for that. So it's really only set to address the major emergent need, and they can't take care of you like a primary care because that is not their purpose. But sometimes I think that's a misconception. You know, patients don't understand. Well, they didn't connect me. They can't read. True. I mean, they can refer you to a specialist if you need it, but ideally you want that primary care provider because that's who's going to collaborate with the specialist in the long run, long term and continue that care.

00:11:32:20 - 00:11:52:05
Unknown
But that's something I've noticed or heard from patients before is they're like, well, they didn't really heal my problem. They just sent me out. They just discharged me home. And unfortunately, that's what they have to do because they're not primary care, right? They have to take the emergent situation and treat it. And then we need to connect to you with the right person to get that primary care.

00:11:52:06 - 00:12:14:05
Unknown
And I think unfortunately, a lot of times people think that the only way, if they do not have the financial means to be able to pay for a private primary care physician, that the emergency room is the only way that they can get that care. And that's why, again, plugging the health care compass, there are situations where the health department may be able to meet that need if you're in need of that prenatal care.

00:12:14:05 - 00:12:37:13
Unknown
We have a ton of services for women who are pregnant, who've recently had babies that can be offered at no cost at a sliding fee scale. Depending on the service, you may not be able to afford to go to the ob gyn regularly. That's not a cheap visit. And so through our CCP program, we can connect you with those services at no cost or a sliding scale through partnership health.

00:12:37:13 - 00:13:00:07
Unknown
They all they serve individuals with no insurance and their fees are minimal to be able to meet that need. And so rather than thinking of the emergency room as your primary care, have it for those life saving or those life risking issues, those life threatening issues, and then try to reach out to the health department. Reach out to partnership if you have a need outside of that life threatening issue.

00:13:00:07 - 00:13:23:21
Unknown
That way we can direct you and serve it before it becomes life threatening. Yeah, it's the starting now, right? Like our premise is no. Before you need care, know where to go before you need care. And so that's what we're hoping their care compass can begin to do is when you're thinking of it, instead of going to your, you know, only access point, you know, which for a lot of people is emergency room.

00:13:23:23 - 00:13:41:21
Unknown
You know, it's like it's the only access point. It's the one that won't turn them away. You know, it's like when you don't have insurance and everyone else can say, no, that's where you're going to go and you're going to save it up, right? It's like because you are aware that you're not really there for the reason that maybe the providers are wanting you there.

00:13:41:21 - 00:14:00:11
Unknown
Right? It's like the actual use of emergency room. And so if you know that you have a place that you can just click on a link, you know, it's like or that might give you other options that, that's what we're hoping we can do with this care compass. Absolutely. And make it easy. I mean, I think it's.

00:14:00:15 - 00:14:26:16
Unknown
Yes. Make it simple for it's so simple because yes, health care is complicated, as we said. And it's ever changing. Right. And then you add insurance or no insurance into it and it is overwhelming. And it's not the only thing that's ever changing our entire lives. Right? Fraught with change that we have no say in. Right. And when you add that to it, your access points feel like they're a constantly moving target, because a lot of times they are, you know, it's like.

00:14:26:17 - 00:14:47:11
Unknown
And so yes, to make it as simple as possible to gather as much information. And so it's like as we're getting started, like so that the community knows when they engage with it. If you see something that we're missing or other providers when you're reading this like we're, we're we know that we've started with a small group of a larger group that needs a voice in this.

00:14:47:11 - 00:15:06:23
Unknown
And so we want their feedback. We want them to contact us and be a part of it. And when we get our our website up and running, we want them to want to be on it, you know, and to want to be on our fly and have a voice. Yes. It's like we want this to be a truly collaborative, countywide effort to help people know.

00:15:06:23 - 00:15:25:11
Unknown
Especially because if your brand new coming into a community to like, be handed something with a QR code that tells you how to get started, that I think is hugely beneficial because Loans County is growing. So there's a lot of people that are coming into the county that are not from here. And also a lot of smaller communities from around come to Lounds to seek care.

00:15:25:12 - 00:15:46:15
Unknown
So another part we haven't touched on is the mental health aspect of this. Yes. You talk a little bit about that and it's, you know, sometimes that can be even harder to know it can and that it's like for me, speaking from a primary care perspective, your primary care is an excellent resource. And that's another aspect of, if anything, you're struggling with.

00:15:46:15 - 00:16:07:20
Unknown
That's where you bring your paper and your lists and all of your medications because they care and they can take the time. And so they're a really great resource to if you're struggling with that, to kind of point you in directions and help you connect you to the resources that we have in our community. And we have a ton of great resources within our community.

00:16:07:22 - 00:16:31:21
Unknown
And so making that call, don't wait until you're in a crisis. If you know that you're struggling with anxiety, depression, reach out to your primary care to the health department and get that connection with some mental health support. Don't wait. And then there's also a national support like nine, eight, eight, you know, the suicide hotline, I mean, things like that that I feel like people don't they're not aware of it.

00:16:31:21 - 00:16:50:19
Unknown
But there's help. Right. You know, on your phone. Yes. And you can text that number. You can call or text. And there's all kinds of apps that are coming up now as to where you can do telehealth appointments. And they try and cater it to what you're wanting. And you can kind of which I know, for trying to find health care providers, times you feel like you just have to deal with what you're dealt.

00:16:50:22 - 00:17:10:08
Unknown
You know, it's like you're just, oh, this is who I have. This is what I'm dealing with. You actually have a little more say, you know? Yeah. Especially when you feel these days. I mean, I do feel like the national trend is trying to catch up with what the data showing, which is that mental health is real. And we need to have resources out there for people.

00:17:10:10 - 00:17:28:18
Unknown
So yeah, you're definitely seeing more of that access via telehealth. And I think that's a great thing. Ask the questions and to try them out. You know, it's like, I know in my own experience with finding a therapist, they don't all fit, you know, and you don't have to just keep going when you're frustrated. You can be like, you know what?

00:17:28:20 - 00:17:50:08
Unknown
This doesn't work for me. They're prepared for it. They know you can say, this doesn't work for me. I'm going to find someone else or even ask them. This is why it doesn't work for me. Can you recommend someone else like that? Is their job to help you find the right fit? 100%? From a public health perspective, what are some of the consequences that you see when people delay care?

00:17:50:10 - 00:18:13:21
Unknown
It's those smaller issues becoming bigger issues. Like we've said, whenever you're not taking that purposeful step, you're not aware of your numbers, aware of your status, getting those vaccines for vaccine preventable diseases and just staying on top of those annual screenings. That's whenever it snowballs and you end up in the emergency room with a heart attack, a stroke with a bigger issue that could have been avoided.

00:18:13:23 - 00:18:39:12
Unknown
All of these things, it's making you a better advocate for yourself, a better consumer of your local health care, and just making sure that you're taking care of yourself early so that you can avoid those catastrophic events. Yeah, you're worth prevention. You are like everyone is worth preventative care. Yes. And yeah.

00:18:39:13 - 00:19:00:21
Unknown
Why do you think that collaboration between all of our different organizations is so important for our community? I just think it's incredibly impressive that the issue was identified, that we saw our local community is not being the best consumer of their health. They're not being intentional in that health care. They're not utilizing all of the resources that we have in our community.

00:19:00:23 - 00:19:24:06
Unknown
And rather than just saying, well, they'll figure it out, we all sat down, we worked together. Britt came up with this beautiful campaign, and we have launched this initiative, or we're about to launch this initiative that can really put some true groundwork on to making this issue improve and getting people better. Yes, very well said. Thank you. And we all have the same goal, right.

00:19:24:07 - 00:19:44:18
Unknown
And uniting around that goal because, you know, working in healthcare, I've found that there's competition that keeps like leaving it's way in for some reason. And it doesn't make any sense to me because there are enough people and enough to go around like they are all need each other. And it's just like, you know, around here especially, you all understand teams.

00:19:44:18 - 00:20:12:00
Unknown
You understand like how to the sports like film from. That's where the competition to win in our healthcare is not a competition. Visuals cannot win on their own. And they also can't do every single aspect that's necessary to win. And so when we work together, we can all focus on the areas that are our expertise, and then we actually get greater results that way.

00:20:12:04 - 00:20:32:07
Unknown
Yes, working together let's individuals be healthier, which lets our community be healthier. All of it just ties in. Yeah, yeah. We were able to sit down with your organization and kind of hear what they were doing. Of course, we've heard your presentation to I mean, both organizations doing phenomenal work, but it is a lot of stuff that's hidden in the background that you don't know.

00:20:32:12 - 00:20:57:19
Unknown
And we're all working on our different initiatives, but being able to talk to one another and, further elevate each other's programs is like a no brainer. Yes. And then we I feel like as a community, you know, several if you want to look back like ten years ago, we did have less providers in the area, but we have seen that and which could, you know, create a mindset that I don't have.

00:20:57:21 - 00:21:20:11
Unknown
There's not enough access. But now I feel like we've done a good job growing all of our programs to accommodate that growth in the population. So don't don't use that as an excuse. Yeah, we've got we've got people do not have a scarcity issue when it comes to healthcare here. We have so many resources now. Utilize them. That's what we're here for.

00:21:20:13 - 00:21:45:14
Unknown
So what is the how is how does someone get connected with partnership health center. They can self refer. They can get a referral from someone else. How does that work? Yes. The first step that I tell everyone because, with our intake process, because there is a financial qualification aspect, but it's way more than you think. It's like, so please don't let that stop you, that you think you might make too much.

00:21:45:14 - 00:22:06:10
Unknown
Because I know we treat the uninsured and there's an underinsured gap that we can't touch yet. You know, it's like, but you can make way more than you think. So the first step is to go to our Woodrow Wilson office, which is at 205 Woodrow Wilson Drive, and they're open Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. you don't need an appointment for that initial contact.

00:22:06:11 - 00:22:25:11
Unknown
You can just show up and tell them, I would like to become a patient, and they will walk you through the process of qualifying. We try and make it as accommodating as possible because it can be complicated when there's a financial element getting all of the paperwork that you need, but they will walk you through it are the ladies there are amazing and so helpful.

00:22:25:12 - 00:22:52:04
Unknown
And so I would say start there. And if you know someone who might benefit from partnerships, send them our way. Either send them to our website they can contact. I'm the one who responds to all the website inquiries. So you can send me an email, and I can walk you through the process as well. And then for the health department, a lot of times the belief is that you can only go to the health department if you don't have insurance, and that's not the case.

00:22:52:04 - 00:23:17:01
Unknown
We serve insured, uninsured, underinsured. Whatever your insurance requirement or your insurance availability is, we can serve you at the health department. But just call whatever the need is. And we have a ton of different services. We have our hypertension, diabetes that can serve so many individuals within our community, but also pregnant women. We have prenatal care and we will stay with your child through.

00:23:17:07 - 00:23:35:09
Unknown
We have services up until 21 that our child health specialists that we can connect you with. And so whatever your need is, if you don't know where to start, just call your local health department and we will get you connected with that service. We utilize the health department a lot at partnership because there's things that we can't do everything right.

00:23:35:10 - 00:23:54:05
Unknown
And so we refer for vaccines and you have an excellent like the prenatal the high risk prenatal like we've been connecting people with that. So you have our home visiting program that will come into your house. We have our child health services that will connect you with through telemedicine, with specialists outside of this area if you can't travel to those specialists.

00:23:54:05 - 00:24:21:03
Unknown
And so if you have the need, just call the health department. We can get you in the right direction. Ask. Just ask, just ask. And I know this wasn't on our questions that we gave to give you a second to think about it. But you you know, your storyteller. So is there any particular like patient story or experience that comes out that you like to tell is a great example of like someone utilizing or a great outcome because somebody you were able to help them with your services.

00:24:21:05 - 00:24:48:09
Unknown
So I'll take it. First, I would like to connect with stories, you know, so I think it was my second day on the job. Courtney was like, Courtney was my boss. She was like, hey, grab the camera. We're going out with our Babies Can't Wait program. And I said, okay, what's that? And so we went out to all of our different counties and followed these child therapists, those occupational speech physical therapists, and went into these children's homes.

00:24:48:09 - 00:25:18:12
Unknown
So we were going into all levels of income homes and watching these therapists work with these kids in their houses. And I just I didn't know that that service existed. I always assumed that if your child had a developmental delay or had a special need, that you had to take them to those appointments. And the amount of parents that we saw during those visits where they were just so incredibly thankful to be able to receive that care right there, where it was convenient for them.

00:25:18:13 - 00:25:44:12
Unknown
That's one of my favorite things. And that that was my first introduction to public health. I was like, I found my place, I found my people. It was just so incredible to get to see that. For me, what comes to mind is the patients that I've spoken to or when I'm out in the community and people find out that I work for partnership, they're like, oh my gosh, my mom comes to you and she's able to come to you while she's navigating because they haven't yet qualified for Medicare, but they don't have insurance.

00:25:44:12 - 00:26:06:07
Unknown
And what did they do? And she found a home with you. And we've got a telehealth remote monitoring program that we use specifically. Well, we have a program around. We use it for everyone, but we have it built around our patients who have hypertension and diabetes. And we had a patient who was referred to us through a hospital stay because both of her conditions were out of control.

00:26:06:09 - 00:26:32:15
Unknown
And she came to us very, very sick. And also, a lot of her patients don't have the ability to come to multiple appointments with, you know, because we have we get a lot of complicated, patients. And so they need to be seen frequently. And so through our telehealth, we were able to get both of her conditions under control to where now she can thrive because we were not able to meet her where she was, but then provide the care she needed.

00:26:32:15 - 00:26:52:05
Unknown
That was possible that she wasn't able to get beforehand, which is why it escalated the way it did. Yeah, I love that. I love all of those. I mean, it's so important we talk about our services, but connecting that behind every service there's a person, there's a patient, there's a family that is needing help. So thank you all for what y'all do.

00:26:52:07 - 00:27:23:15
Unknown
Yes. Thank you all for what y'all do. The resource that you all are to our community. You guys are always growing. The partnership that we have with GMC is invaluable to us. Like there's a lot of in-kind that goes in with all of our patients. We qualify them. Oh, that's something going to talk about. Was in the Access to Care a lot of when I was navigating at first navigating without health insurance, you don't realize that a lot of places like SMC have financial assistance programs.

They have the cash pay options like you talked about in the sliding fee scales and all of our patients. We qualify all of them for y'all's financial assistance program, which gives us the ability to refer which a lot of charitable clinics don't have that. And so that is an invaluable relationship that we have to where we can relieve pressure from you guys, but then also help them navigate the right access points to get the care that they need.

00:27:46:17 - 00:28:02:03
Unknown
And so I would just say, like, if you do have financial issues, ask like go up to someone and ask if they have a financial assistance program, if they have cash pay options, if they have a sliding fee scale, most places have something.

00:28:02:05 - 00:28:14:14
Unknown
All right. Well, thank you so much for joining us today. We're very excited. And we'll put some information about the County Care Compass in the description. Thank you so much for having us on us. See you next time.