Hospitals in pursuit of excellence

Bridging the Care Gap

For 18 years, Community House Calls, a UW Medicine program of Harborview Medical Center in Seattle, has helped address gaps in health care for refugee and immigrant patients. Using a modified case management approach, Community House Calls caseworkers/ cultural mediators work to establish open communication between Harborview and immigrant patients, families and communities, providing casework and interpretation services as well as help with patient navigation, advocacy, social services, health education and more. Services are offered in Amharic, Cambodian, Somali, Spanish, Tigrigna and Vietnamese. Caseworkers/cultural mediators are bilingual, bicultural and trained to handle challenging situations. Recently the caseworkers/cultural mediators have been coaching patients with diabetes, helping them plan and carry out culturally congruent approaches to changing diet and increasing exercise. Overall, the combination of relationship building, patient navigation and education results in higher quality, more effective and efficient care. Started as a two-year demonstration project, Community House Calls is now fully funded by Harborview. For more information, contact Martine Pierre-Louis, director, interpreter services, at martine@u.washington.edu or Bria Chakofsky-Lewy, RN, supervisor, at bria@u.washington.edu.