POSITION SUMMARY:

The Curbside Care Community Wellness Advocate (CWA) is a key member of the “Curbside Care for Moms and Babies Mobile Program” team. This position will help promote and maintain stable health and wellness for patients in the prenatal and postpartum periods, through integrating and connecting hospital, home-based, and community-based services. CWAs are responsible for providing advocacy and case management services; developing and tracking an interdisciplinary care plan; partnering with families to establish and enact health goals; facilitating access to and coordination among social service resources and other internal and external resources; monitoring the families’ progress; and problem-solving with patients to both accelerate and enhance access to concrete supports.

The Curbside Care for Moms and Babies Program at BMC is a novel health care delivery platform which provides comprehensive high-touch, prenatal and postpartum care to women and infants on a Mobile Unit outside of their home. The program is a collaborative program between the departments of Pediatrics and Midwifery (within OBGYN) which aims to increase access to maternal and infant care for BMC patients in the City of Boston. The Community Wellness Advocate works with each patient to ensure that their psycho-social, material, and health-related needs are met. The CWA reduces fragmentation of care in the peri-partum period and facilitates connections to community support services and primary and behavioral health care. This role is both patient-facing and non-patient facing. As a member of an innovation team tasked with testing new and novel care delivery approaches, the specific activities of the wellness advocate may evolve over time.

The individual will also support ongoing non-Curbside Care research projects. The individual will work closely with the principal investigator (PI) and other members of the research team to coordinate research efforts; recruit participants; collect, manage, and analyze data; and facilitate dissemination of scientific results. The team member may be involved in other research tasks including IRB submissions and grant writing.

Position: Curbside Care Community Wellness Advocate

Department: Curbside Care Program

Schedule: Part Time

ESSENTIAL RESPONSIBILITIES / DUTIES:

• Functions a key member of an inter-disciplinary team (nurse practitioners, certified nurse midwives, social workers, behavioral health clinicians, physicians, resource specialists, clinical support staff, etc.)
• Performs outreach/recruitment for new Curbside Care patients
• Schedules and completes pre-visit screenings, care plans, and follow up visits and phone calls for enrolled patients within specified timeframes
• Assists families in addressing and overcoming barriers with a range of concrete supports, including but not limited to: healthcare support services, behavioral health, financial mobility coaching, early-intervention, child-care and caregiver support, housing, support with utility bills, food, financial entitlements, clothing, transportation, food pantries, violence prevention, social isolation and any other appropriate community resources
• Teaches families key educational and developmental messages using a variety of culturally, linguistically, and educationally appropriate strategies, in a variety of settings
• Provides lactation support and education, if qualified
• Provides brief psycho-educational support for women with post-partum depression
• Provides linkages between pre-natal and post-natal providers
• Helps to identify a primary care provider (PCP) for the baby.
• Schedules baby’s well-care for 1 month, 2 month, and 4 month visit with the PCP.
• Works with post-partum coordinator to connect women with primary, subspecialty, and behavioral health services
• Liaises with Integrated Behavioral Health providers in Family Medicine and Internal Medicine
• Attends patient care visits on the Mobile Unit.
• Attends Curbside Care Team meetings.
• Clearly documents all activities in the patient’s record and care management system. Records and monitors the participants’ progress toward goals within specific timeframes. Documents assessments and key patient updates in Epic system; documents relevant day-to-day activities and patient data.
• Communicates plans and updates with members of the care team
• Develops and maintains strong relationships with the community and community resources to ensure patient access
• Engages in ongoing training and learning, including Certified Lactation Consultant training.
• Participates in special projects as needed.

Must adhere to all of BMC’s RESPECT behavioral standards.

(The above statements in this job description are intended to depict the general nature and level of work assigned to the employee(s) in this job. The above is not intended to represent an exhaustive list of accountable duties and responsibilities required).

JOB REQUIREMENTS

EDUCATION:

• Bachelor's Degree is highly preferred
• High School Diploma is required

CERTIFICATES, LICENSES, REGISTRATIONS REQUIRED:

• MA Driver’s License preferred
• Certified Lactation Consultant (CLC) preferred, not required

EXPERIENCE:

Required Experience and Skills:

• 2-5 years of prior healthcare, public health, mental health, or community-based programmatic experience preferred
• Ability to work harmoniously with diverse groups of individuals
• Proven excellent English communication skills (oral and written)

Preferred Experience and Skills:

• Fluency in non-English language, ideally Spanish or Haitian Creole
• Knowledge of or interest in the connections between pregnancy complications, long-term health, and health inequities

KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS & ABILITIES (KSA):

• Basic knowledge of healthcare system and social service landscape
• Outstanding interpersonal and communication skills
• Understanding of how language, culture and socioeconomic circumstances affect health
• Professional demeanor, excellent communication and interpersonal skills, attention to detail, reliability and ability to work independently and as part of a team.
• Ability to prioritize work effectively.
• Must be able to show initiative and take on tasks of increasing difficulty and responsibility.
• Experience with computer systems required, including web based applications and some Microsoft Office applications which may include Outlook, Word, Excel, and PowerPoint.
• Ability to uphold patient confidentiality is a must.

Equal Opportunity Employer/Disabled/Veterans