UHN Social Medicine Navigators Evelyn Cheung, left, and Samera Mahamoudare part of a new program that aims to connect nurse practitioners and social medicine workers to vulnerable populations, facilitating long-term access to critical medical services.If a patient misses an important medical appointment, but can’t be contacted to reschedule because they don’t have a phone, standard procedure dictates that a doctor or nurse will write that the individual was “lost to follow up” in their chart.
Now, a program at Toronto’s University Health Network is hoping to break down some of those long-standing access barriers by pairing at-risk individuals with a dedicated team to help them access health care as well as social supports, such as cellphones, government assistance or transportation to appointments.
Unlike a traditional social worker, the social medicine navigator role is designed to be more flexible, visiting individuals in their homes or shelters and connecting them with a variety of supports, which could include help accessing provincial drug benefits so they can afford medication or accompanying them to medical appointments. The social medicine navigators are already working with patients in the community and this summer, will start working directly in teams with nurse practitioners.
Ms. Cheung connected the woman to a local organization that provides financial assistance to people facing eviction who helped her with rent payments so she didn’t lose her home. Unfortunately, her disease continued to progress and the woman died earlier this month.