INTERDISCIPLINARY TEAMS ADDRESS WHOLE-PERSON CARE
Sometimes helping a patient requires digging deeper into their inner and outer worlds. Take, for example, a patient who visits her primary care provider for support managing diabetes. After learning she will need to take insulin, the patient becomes stressed: insulin needs to be refrigerated, and her utilities are about to be shut off. OneWorld’s interdisciplinary teams are prepared. The patient’s clinician contacts the Social Services team to assess the patient’s social determinants of health – the living, social, working and other conditions present in her life – in order to find possible solutions.
Even if there isn’t a quick fix for everything a patient faces, the team is committed to their overall well-being. Social Worker Jair Alvarez said that’s part of what makes OneWorld unique. “I think it’s very special that you can see your primary care physician, see behavioral health and see social work all in the same visits,” Alvarez said. He added: “We want to make sure we meet basic needs, so that they understand their mental health is very important, and [we] want them to continue seeing their doctor and therapist here so that overall, they can have a better, healthier life.”
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