Improving Care Navigation with FindHelp

Join us for a candid conversation with three healthcare leaders from the Camden Coalition, Providence, and CBCS as they explore the realities facing women across the healthcare workforce—from persistent double standards and leadership disparities to the invisible weight of caregiving. With nearly 78% of healthcare roles held by women, this episode dives into the systemic challenges and personal trade-offs that shape women's healthcare careers – and how organizations can better support women through policy, mentorship, and workplace redesign.

In this month’s episode, we dive into the increasingly important topic of Medical Respite—a critical service that provides short-term medical care for people experiencing homelessness who are too ill or frail to recover on the streets, but not sick enough to stay in a hospital.Dr. Enguidanos is joined by Jillian Olmsted and Dr. Jeff McNally from The INN Between, Utah’s first and only medical respite and end-of-life care facility for individuals experiencing homelessness. Speakers share the financial and health outcome benefits of medical respite and offer key considerations for organizations looking to implement a similar program.

Join us this month as Dr. Enrique Enguidanos chats with John Whigham about his experience as a community health worker—and how his history of homelessness, food insecurity, and addiction have allowed him to find both empathy and empowerment in his street medicine work today. JOHN WHIGHAM:John Whigham is a dedicated Community Health Worker (CHW) specializing in street medicine at AHN's Center for Inclusion Health. John has faced many of the same challenges as the populations he serves, including homelessness, food insecurity, and battling addiction. As a former alcoholic and addict. John Whigham draws on his lived experience to connect with individual struggling with similar issues, providing a unique blend of empathy, authenticity, and hope.A former United States Marine, John learned the value of resilience, teamwork and discipline -- qualities that now define his approach to community health work. After leaving the military, he successfully ran his own personal training business before transitioning to CHW work without formal outreach experience. Driven by a deep desire to give back and help others navigate the barriers he once faced, he quickly excelled in his role, becoming known for his ability to build trust and offer holistic support to people in need.Today, John is a strong advocate for meeting people where they are, using his personal journey to inspire and empower others on their path to stability and recovery. His story is one of perseverance and transformation, making him an invaluable asset to the community and a powerful voice for those seeking change.

Join Caring as Communities on this mini-series interviewing the frontline community health navigators supporting our nation's most vulnerable patients. In this episode, Director of Operations at CBCS, Asia Brown, shares her journey and curiosity about people and how it set her on a path to non-fiction writing and then drove her into social work, and eventually to the helping side of getting to know people.Asia Brown is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker with a background in case management and quality improvement. Working for the Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program, Asia assisted numerous community members whose mental health had faltered because of stigma around mental illness and inequitable healthcare access. Asia leads a team of exemplary Community Health Workers, dedicated to providing clients with the guidance, support, and resources needed to help them remain stable and flourish in their communities. 

Join Caring as Communities on this mini-series interviewing the frontline community health navigators supporting our nation's most vulnerable patients. In this episode, Crystal Salazar shares her journey starting as a young, single mother and arriving full circle as a navigator working in New Mexico as a role model, mentor, and support for new parents. 

Join Caring as Communities on this mini-series interviewing the frontline community health navigators supporting our nation's most vulnerable patients. In this episode, Jessica Placencia shares the catalyst for her career change from EMS services to care navigation and the role of small misses in creating barriers to big change. 

One year following the launch of the innovative INSPIRE program, Dr. Enrique Enguidanos interviews those involved in its work on lessons learned in this journey to advance community partnerships in healthcare throughout the country.  INSPIRE’s goal is to create tools, resources and learning/coaching models that will meet the varied needs of healthcare stakeholders and people with lived experience to advance meaningful partnership in their communities to deliver better quality healthcare.

Join us for this special episode of Caring as Communities! Dr. Enrique Enguidanos joins  with Asia Brown, CBCS, and Chris Douglas, FindHelp.org, to discuss key challenges facing individuals in accessing critical resources and identify patient-centric solutions that improve access and maintain individual dignity. BONUS CONTENT: This episode includes key testimonials from patients with complex health needs about resource navigation and successful solutions! 

Nutrition has vast effects on individual and population health—impacting obesity rates, chronic conditions, and quality of life. Yet despite its proven, wide-reaching effects, nutrition remains largely overlooked as a social determinant of health. Dr. Livia Santiago-Rosado, MD, Commissioner of the Dutchess County (NY) Department of Behavioral and Community Health, joins Dr. Enrique Enguidanos to discuss this important topic and how communities can work together to make small tweaks and big impacts. Bio:Dr. Santiago-Rosado has been Commissioner of the Dutchess County Department of Behavioral Health since her appointment in December 2021. Following completion of a BA in Biological Anthropology summa cum laude from Harvard University, she attended medical school at Columbia University. Having completed residency training at Mount Sinai and Elmhurst Hospitals in New York City, has practiced Emergency Medicine in New York for over two decades, working in emergency departments (EDs) in diverse settings including urban, suburban, rural, public and private. She holds an academic appointment as Distinguished Visiting Professor at New York Medical College and Adjunct Associate Professor at the Touro School of Osteopathic Medicine.Dr. Santiago has dedicated her career to working with and enhancing the care of underserved populations. Prior to moving to Dutchess County, she spent 15 years as a clinical leader in New York City’s public hospital system, Health + Hospitals (H+H), where she helped found a novel ED Care Management program for highly vulnerable patients and the first ED-based observation unit in H+H. Prior to her current appointment, Dr. Santiago was the Medical Director and inaugural Chair of Emergency Medicine at Vassar Brothers Medical Center in Poughkeepsie, NY. Dr. Santiago is an active member of the New York State Association of County Health Officials (NYSACHO) and sits on its Emerging Issues committee. She also currently serves as a Councilor representing New York at the American College of Emergency Physicians (ACEP) and has served two terms on the Board of Directors for the New York Chapter of ACEP. She also serves on ACEP practice committees at both the State and national levels. Throughout her career, she has led and participated in policy development, education, informatics and data analytics, quality improvement, change management, and research in Emergency Medicine, social determinants, and population health at the local, state, and national levels. Lastly, since local health commissioners in New York are required to have a master's degree in public health (or related field) in addition to a medical doctorate, she is currently enrolled in the MPH program at the University at Albany.

Join Caring as Communities on this mini-series interviewing the frontline community health navigators supporting our nation's most vulnerable patients. In this episode, community health worker in Virginia, Gerron, shares his journey coming from a background of crime and finding purpose in helping others escape similar life patterns by addressing the environments in which they live through love and compassion.