CHRISTUS Spohn Introduces Select Wellness Program

 

CHRISTUS Spohn Care Coordination Team from the Select Wellness Program bring Matthew Schmidt and his wife Patricia Goodman extra supplies to for their new home. 

Steven Alford for South Texas Catholic
 

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When Matthew Schmidt was brought to the CHRISTUS Spohn Trauma Center, he was in bad shape after suffering a seizure, having broken most of his teeth on the sidewalk at a bus stop. 

Doctors were able to patch him back together and help him heal, but serious life changes would need to be made. Matthew has visited the Emergency Department dozens of times for common ailments, and it was time to acquire a Primary Care Physician and follow a regular health plan. 

Many in the Coastal Bend are just like Matthew – people who face the toughest health challenges with the least means to access the health care they need. 

Select Wellness Program (SWP) from CHRISTUS Spohn aims to help those with severe chronic illnesses who require extra care and vigilance but are particularly challenged with medical access and transportation. 

Today, Matthew and wife Patricia Goodman are clean and sober, getting their life back together, and living in a new trailer with furnishings provided by their weekly caregivers. It is a far cry from where he was just a few months ago on the streets of Corpus Christi. 

“These nurses and doctors are truly angels. They are a blessing,” Schmidt said holding back tears during a visit from his medical team. “This isn’t just about health care…this is human care.” 

The Select Wellness program identified nearly 200 of the most at “risk” clinic patients, based on individual health and wellness assessments. Focus is placed on the development of an effective care plan for each individual and outlining the right level of care, in the most appropriate setting, with a focus on wellness. 

This new patient-centered initiative provides for preferred same-day access to the patient’s medical home and is the basis for proper management of their chronic illnesses, officials said. 

The CHRISTUS Care Coordination Team is comprised of Registered Nurses and Community Health Care Workers who enrolled and care for approximately 35 patients in this new health wellness program. 

The Select Wellness Program team work closely with these key patients to identify their care plan, their access to transportation, and ways that CHRISTUS Spohn can assist to make their access to health care easier and more successful.  

“This new program looks to help those who need care coordination of ongoing care needs but don’t quite have the resources they need,” said Sharon Elwin, RN, Clinical Director for Care Coordination of the Dr. Hector P. Garcia Memorial Family Health Center. 

“Our focus is to get them healthier while providing care at the most appropriate care setting which will address their need for access and also free up much-needed space in ERs,” she said. 

As part of enrollment in the wellness program, patients get a 30-day RTA bus pass and a photo ID that allows them to have walk-in access to their Primary Care Physicians (no appointment or calling) with a waiver of some co-pays. 

The Select Wellness Program Team looks forward to expanding the initiative in the future to accommodate more patients who need access to health care and transportation. 

“We are about providing the right care, at the right time at the appropriate location, and hopefully this new program can make that possible for some of those who are in most need in our community,” said Liza Esparza, RN, BSN, Director of Transitional Clinical Delivery at Dr. Hector P. Garcia Memorial Family Health Center. 

To learn more about services at the Dr. Hector P. Garcia Memorial Family Health Center, please visit www.christushealth.org/spohn/about/our-path-forward/dr-hector-p-garcia-memorial-family-health-center.

 

CHRISTUS Spohn Care Coordination Team care for approximately 35 patients in the Select Wellness program. The care team does regular checks on Schmidt and Goodman to make sure they have what they need for their care and daily living. On this day the team brought them extra supplies for their bathroom, some bathmats, towels, and more.  In the back row, from left are Linda Garcia, CHW, Tiffany Mendietta, RN, and Marta Satsky, CHW. In the front row, from left, are Alma Sanchez, RN ,  Matthew Schmidt, Pamela Ashley Rodriguez, RN, Patricia Goodman, Sharon Elwin, RN.

Steven Alford for South Texas Catholic