When our intervention team met Ms. Adams (pseudonym), she was diligently managing her complex health regimen, which included an overwhelming 30+ prescriptions per day. Each new referral for nausea or chronic pain resulted in another prescription, rather than a solution.
Ms. Adams was eager for a change but did not know where to start.
Although Ms. Adams did not know this at the time, she would gain valuable insights during her intervention with PCIC and go on to become a valuable community resource for crisis intervention and behavioral health referrals.
When we started working with Ms. Adams, her health goals were to reduce the number of medications she was on and to figure out why she was sick, rather than which pill would make her symptoms temporarily go away.
Each of Ms. Adams’ specialist providers did their jobs well with the resources they were given. However, they worked in different siloed health systems and were unable to coordinate with one another about the care and diagnoses Ms. Adams received. As a result, Ms. Adams was left with additional symptoms caused by unfortunate drug interactions.
Our care coordination team assessed Ms. Adams’ care from both a medical and social lens, then identified two key steps to support Ms. Adams in achieving her health goals: The first was to build a network of physicians within a single coordinated health system so they could all view her health records; the second was to connect her to an expert in evidence-based behavioral health therapy to help her develop coping skills to control health-related anxiety
As Ms. Adams progressed through our intervention, she gained insight into the root cause of one of her symptoms: The less anxiety she felt, the less nausea she experienced.
This realization fueled an inner desire to help those around her who were experiencing similar challenges with behavioral health. Starting with a neighbor and then other community members, Ms. Adams began to share her newly acquired knowledge around how to access behavioral health services.
She not only connected people to community resources, but she began having structured conversations with friends to help them identify and accomplish their goals.
During the graduation ceremony from her PCIC intervention, Ms. Adams reflected on how the program impacted her:
Now that I feel better, I can be there for the people I care about. It makes me feel better now that I’m able to help someone. I call him {a friend who is struggling with depression} every day, ask what’s on his mind, make sure he’s on the right accord. I’ve been staying by him. I tell him, you’re too good to be falling back into a dark place that is not you.
Authors
Andy Grimbergen
Case Manager
Kathryn Reynolds
Communications Specialist
