Saint Mary’s Hospital welcomed Senator Richard Blumenthal on June 28 for a press conference to announce $1.2 million in federal funding earmarked for Trinity Health Of New England’s Community Health Worker Program.
Trinity Health Of New England plans to use the funding to expand their existing Community Health Worker program, which currently provides social care wraparound services for patients in the Emergency Departments at the health system’s three Connecticut-based hospitals—Saint Francis Hospital, Saint Mary’s Hospital, and Johnson Memorial Hospital. An expansion would allow Community Health Workers to be added to the care team at the system’s safety net health clinics, inpatient units, and more.
Husnain Kermalli, M.D., Chief Medical Officer, Saint Mary’s Hospital and Cheryl Hilton, Manager of Community Health and Well Being, Saint Mary’s Hospital both spoke on how the funding will be used to support our Social Care and Clinical Integration program.
Hilton stated, “our model is to integrate Community Health Workers into clinical teams to support the “social care” that is needed to patients to achieve wellbeing.”
The Community Health Workers will support with the social conditions that impact patients, such as access to resources, behavior modifications, educational material and assistance with compliance mechanisms. They will do this by providing follow up calls, visiting a home when needed, rewording information so patients understand, and assisting with access to resources such as food, transportation, family counseling and more.