Erie Family Health Center

My name is Maria and I work for the case management program at Erie Family Health Center.  Working with this great team of case managers for the last two years has been an incredibly gratifying experience. I am often asked ‘what does a case manager do?’ It is not rare that case management is confused for behavioral health therapy.  At Erie, our talented case management team members guide our patients to the services that they need. For Erie’s case management programs, like Chicago Family Case Management, we help expectant women and new mothers navigate the complicated system of prenatal care and well child care.

 

Erie has several Case Management programs. Two programs that I often like to highlight are Chicago Family Case Management and the Women, Infant and Children (WIC) program. Both of these programs help women care for themselves during pregnancy and their children once they are born. Through these programs, we help women to have healthy babies and to reduce the rates of infant mortality and very low birth weight.  Erie is one of the few fortunate agencies that offer both of these programs to our clients under one roof.

So what exactly do these programs do? In Chicago Family Case Management, we deliver culturally appropriate comprehensive case management to pregnant women and infants.  We also provide a system of referrals for health care, social services, educational and transportation assistance for medical appointments for the women and their babies.  WIC provides nutrition education, counseling and support, breast feeding support, nutritious foods, and health screenings to women.  With the integration of these two programs, Erie is able to provide more effective services through the combination of nutrition education, nutritious foods and the support services that are provided.

One reason to highlight both of these programs is because, like so many of the case management programs at Erie, WIC and Chicago Family Case Management are both extremely effective in improving the health status of women and their babies. The WIC program is an entry point or “gateway” program for the low-income pregnant, postpartum, and breastfeeding women, infants and young children into the health care system.  Studies have shown that WIC reduces fetal deaths, infant mortality, low birth weight rates, and iron deficiency anemia in children and increases immunization rates. 

Additionally, by integrating programs like WIC and Chicago Family Case Management, Erie is helping to contribute to the overall reduction in the state’s infant mortality and the reduction in expenditures for medical assistance during the first year of life.  Therefore, participating in these programs saves Illinois an average of $200 million each year in Medicaid expenses.  For example, in FY09 Erie was able to assist over 2,675 families a month through both these programs. The usual caseload capacity per month is 1700; however, we exceeded those numbers by 1900!!  The integration of these programs and the number of clients we are able to serve is a great testimony of the quality care Erie provides for those in need.    

Every day, our case managers hear the stories that clients share about the issues they face, such as not having a job or not having money to buy food, pampers, soap, and clothes for their baby.  Some also struggle with being able to keep their medical appointments because they have to make the choice of using the money they have on transportation or being able to provide one of the basic necessities for their family. This is truly when the integration of Chicago Family Case Management and WIC really come into full affect— we are able to ensure that the client’s needs can be met so they can lead happy and healthy lives.