Part of my requirements as an AmeriCorps, Community HealthCorps member is to report a "Great Story" every month (I've only done one so far. oops), so the bigwigs in Washington who fund my program can look at the good work I've been done with more than just numbers (which I am also horrible at reporting. bleh.) I thought I would share with the general interwebs my latest (and only) "Great Story."
I spend a lot of my case management days calling hospital billing centers, so I was really looking forward to handling a case in which I needed to get a low-income single mother some baby and toddler supplies. Our clinic has a partnership with a local organization that distributes free supplies such as toys, diapers, clothes, etc. through providers, so I already knew I could get her some items for free. I also knew there were other programs out there that she could access herself, so I did some research ahead of time and scheduled her an appt. to talk to me. I was so eager to present to her all the resources that she could use, I stayed through my lunch break when she came in late due to car trouble. While I was talking to her, she told me about how she wanted to enrolled her rambunctious toddler into some active programs to give him an outlet for his energy, and I looked up various community centers and organizations that I knew had discounted or free programs. When I told her that she could go to the Salvation Army for help, she asked me, “What’s the Salvation Army?” It then struck me how privileged I have been to have known about so many programs that I could access if I needed help. Having access to the internet has exposed me to many different resources in my community, and it definitely felt great to share them with someone who could really use the help.
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