Executive director of St. Joseph’s Neighborhood Center talks about the nonprofit’s mission, challenges and how it is determined to help those the uninsured and underinsured
By Mike Costanza
Q. In a few words, how does St. Joseph’s Neighborhood Center serve the community?
A. We provide healthcare for the uninsured and underinsured, and seek to provide services in a wholistic, affirming way that supports the whole person in achieving their health goals. We work with folks where they’re at, and we approach all of our services from a very patient-focused perspective.
Q. What kinds of services does SJNC provide?
A. We try to have a one stop shop. Folks can come to us for primary care, for specialty care, for mental health services. We also have a bodyworks program that includes chiropractic massage therapy. We want to address all of their health needs, mental health needs, and also to address the social determinants of health, which are barriers that prevent folks from engaging in health care.
Q. Are some of your services more in demand than others?
A. Theres been more of a demand for specialty services, which is something that we’re able to provide due in large part to our volunteers and our collaborations, then just general management of primary care symptoms as well. The other thing that I would say is over the past five or 10 years is an increase in the number of immigrants who need access to services and are non-English speakers, so we’ve had to make a significant investment in our language access.
Q. Can you tell the readers a little more about the people SJNC serves?
A. The population of folks that we service is about 50 percent uninsured, but the other 50 percent is underinsured. It’s folks who have insurance, who are working and have full-time employment but they may have high copays, or they may have other barriers that prevent them financially from engaging in care. In Monroe County, I estimate that there’s about 50,000 individuals that are either uninsured or underinsured, so one of our challenges is “How do we find and reach those 50,000 people?”
Q. How do you plan to treat those who can’t come to SJNC?
A. We recently purchased and retrofitted a Medical Outreach and Engagement vehicle, which functions as an “exam room on wheels”. This mobile unit will be a key method of reducing barriers to engagement in health care, and it will allow us to provide primary care in the community where folks live, work, worship, and play. It should be on the road by the fall.
Q. Does SJNC face other challenges?
A. We are being impacted by shortages heath care providers. We have a staff of 24 people, and we provide the foundation or the infrastructure for the organization, but in any given year we have about 400 volunteers who work for us. Many of them are doing things like helping us to clean the building, but a whole host of them are volunteer doctors, nurse practitioners, nurses who are actually seeing our patients. With the increased shortages of providers and nurses, getting volunteers to join us is that much more challenging, because we’re drawing from a population of folks that is already short.
For more information on St. Joseph’s Neighborhood Center or to support the nonprofit, go to: www.sjncenter.org.