AMITA Health is a key community partner in our Health Literacy Initiative.
This non-profit organization is the largest faith-based healthcar
e provider and the largest Medicaid services provider in the state of Illinois. In many of the markets AMITA Health serves, their patients are considered vulnerable persons.
In 2017, we began partnering with AMITA Health. Thanks to Shannon Jermal, the AMITA Health System Director, Community Benefit, today, our information is displayed in five different AMITA Health hospitals and outpatient centers. Look for our interview with Shannon in an upcoming Spark Newsletter.
Distributing information to patients is important. But the real
collaboration takes place when AMITA Health provides a referral to Literacy DuPage.
For example, when a provider or a case manager notices someone who could use our services, they provide Literacy DuPage contact information in the patient's discharge paperwork.
Another aspect of our partnership with AMITA Health is Aunt Bertha: a web-based, social service search engine that is available to anyone with an internet connection
–including
people who work inside AMITA Health. When a staff member identifies a patient whose language barrier may be creating challenges even
outside
of AMITA Health, they can help that person find help through Aunt Bertha. With a few clicks, the staff can instantly send an electronic referral to, say, Literacy DuPage!
Many individuals who live in poverty often live in a crisis mode.
Finding their own way to social services can be a difficult task. AMITA Health tries to remove that burden from the patient. At a glance, a healthcare provider can see that a patient has been referred to an organization for help, then offer guidance and help to be proactive in getting the services they need.