Outer Cape Community Resource Navigator Program: Rural Community Engagement-Driven Service Delivery

Abstract

Moderator: Andy Lowe, Director of Program Management Resources, Outer Cape Health Services Presenters: Marta “Dikke” Hansen, MSW, Director of Behavioral Health Andrew Jorgensen, MD, Associate Medical Director Session Description The Outer Cape Cod, Massachusetts region is famed for its beauty as a summer vacation destination. For many residents and migrant workers serving the tourism industry; however, the intersection of isolation, little affordable housing, and limited transportation options can exacerbate problems due to mental health, substance abuse, and co-occurring conditions. Police, emergency responders, and EDs encounter this at-risk population disproportionately. Outer Cape Health Services, the local FQHC, proposed a novel solution: a Community Resource Navigator (CRN) program. The CRN Navigator works with community partners to identify at-risk individuals, engage them right in the community, and guide them to appropriate services/treatment. A modified Self-Sufficiency Matrix based on evidence from other Navigator programs is used as a tool to prioritize needs. The Navigator then helps clients attach themselves to options that make sense. The CRN program is a departure from classical case management approaches that features a light touch, with contact in the community rather than requiring clients to “come in” to the health center. A unique approach is that the Navigator uses a community-donated bicycle to pedal her way around the narrow Provincetown streets which can become virtually impassable during the busy summer tourism season. In addition, the Navigator sees clients in safe, accessible public spaces such as the public library. A critical success factor is community engagement that builds effective relationships with community partners such as police, EMTs, councils on aging, community mental health providers, etc. Since beginning the CRN program, data has been collected that provides some unexpected insights into how the Community Navigator approach can be both an outcome- and cost-effective alternative to traditional case management or social worker-oriented interventions. In addition, the CRN program is proposed as the basis for a research initiative under the auspices of the University of Massachusetts Medical School Center for Clinical and Translational Science.