Creative Partnerships to Leverage Volunteers in Meeting Community Health Needs

Jason Patnosh, National Association of Community Health Centers / Community HealthCorps

National Conference on Service and Volunteerism (New York, NY)

June 29, 2010

Discussion of how agencies in the room are currently using volunteers

National picture of volunteerism

Not just candy stripers anymore!

Community HealthCorps

Looking ahead in the volunteerism movement for the health care sector

Agenda

Volunteering in America (released 06/15/10)

• Annually the Corporation for National and Community Service release Volunteering in America to highlight volunteerism in America. This report looks at data on a national and state-by-state level and allows readers to shape their own comparison tables, reports, etc

• According to the CNCS, about 63.4 million Americans (26.4% of the adult population) provided 8.1 billion hours of service worth $169 billion in 2009.

• Also, Independent Sector designates the value of a volunteer hour annually (www.independentsector.org)

– In 2009, the national average was $20.85/hour (range:

Puerto Rico, $11.06 – Washington, DC $32.74)

Trends and Highlights from Volunteering in America Report

• The top four activities for service across the country are fundraising-with 26.6% of volunteers serving in this way between 2007 and 2009-followed by collecting or distributing food with 23.5%, providing labor or transportation with 20.5%, and tutoring/teaching at 19%.

• Factors that positively influence volunteering rates include higher education levels, lower poverty rates, shorter average commute times, robust nonprofit infrastructure, and higher levels of community attachment as measured by indicators such as home ownership.

• In 2009, states with higher unemployment rates were more likely to have lower volunteering rates. The relationship is such that if the unemployment rate decreased in a state by one percentage point, the volunteering rate could be expected to increase by 1.2%.

How the numbers rose

• Research indicates that the rise was primarily fueled by increased volunteer rates among women, especially women ages 45-54; among individuals who are married, especially married women; and among those who were employed, especially working full time.

• Overall, the volunteer rate for individuals who identified themselves as African American/Black rose from 19.1% in 2008 to 20.2% in 2009 – largely due to an increase in volunteerism among African American/Black women.

Volunteers by State

• Over 42% of the state of Utah volunteer, while only 19% of the state of New York (NYC mayor Bloomberg singlehandedly is trying to increase this)

• Louisiana has the lowest hours of service by resident annually (avg 24 hours/yr)…Gulf states rank in the bottom 10 of volunteer rates overall, but with the recent oil spill and past hurricanes the length someone volunteers is likely longer.

• These trends carry through for nearly every age group-but troubling is how low young adults are volunteering in each state (lowest percentages of all age ranges)

Where People Volunteer

Area 1989 2009

Health 10.4% 8.3%

Educational 15.1% 26.6%

Civic 13.2% 5.4%

Sports/Arts 7.8% 3.5%

Social Services 9.9% 13.8%

Religious 37.4% 35.6%

Other 6.3% 6.9%

More to report…

For more data, how your state (and mid-size/large cities trend) and access to other related research

reports visit:

www.volunteeringinamerica.gov

Not just candy stripers anymore!

“Who are your potential volunteers?”

• Anybody who does Anything for you Anytime without an expectation for compensation

–Lay people or professionals, students or retirees,

homemakers or people working 2 jobs

–Could be 1 or 2, or could be a bunch

–Could be just helping out informally or organized into a

formal program

–Could help out occasionally or have a regular schedule

Volunteers in health care roles of today

Want to have a much more hands on experience in working with patients and the community

The Social Development Model

1. In order to promote wholehearted and loyal social

engagement an agency seeking a volunteer needs to

offer the opportunity to make a meaningful contribution to

the community

2. The skills to make that contribution (train if needed)

3. And recognition for making the contribution

Seeking to develop health care volunteers

• Any agency will go through several steps in organizing a volunteer effort:

1. Identify tasks and create a ‘job description’

2. Determine the level and qualifications of the volunteer

3. Find a volunteer

4. Orient & train the volunteer

5. Direct, supervise, & support the volunteer

6. Recognize the volunteer

7. Keep the agency engaged

The Payoff Toward Utilizing Volunteers

• You can expand your “staff” capacity in areas important to your mission where you could never afford to pay someone to work

• You can leverage your staff’s expertise so as to extend their productivity

• You can create new advocates and so grow the community’s sense of ownership of, responsibility for, and devotion to, your cause

Community HealthCorps

• Launched by NACHC in 1995• Largest health-focused AmeriCorps program that promotes

health care for America’s underserved, while developing tomorrow’s health care workforce.

• HealthCorps members try to help people who have no regular primary care provider to:

–Increase access to health care–Provide health education–Recruit and develop volunteers for health centers

Community HealthCorps

Vision High quality, affordable healthcare for all, coupled with the knowledge and ability to lead a healthy life.

Mission The Community HealthCorps improves health care access and enhances workforce development through community health center sponsored AmeriCorps and related programs.

Goals 1) Improve and expand access to and utilization of primary and preventive health care in underserved communities.

2) Encourage Community HealthCorps members, through experiential learning, to pursue further education and careers in community-based health care.

3) Create a culture of civic engagement and volunteerism in community health centers to augment and strengthen primary and preventive health care for the underserved.

4) Foster collaborations and partnerships that ensure the continuity and sustainability of the Community HealthCorps and community health centers.

Community HealthCorps Members Are Doing Great Things

During the 2009-2010 program year, 746,803 medically underserved people benefitted from the diligent service of Community HealthCorps members nationwide.

Members enrolled 77,472 of these individuals as new patients, in health screenings, health insurance plans, and other health programs or services.

At least 75,028 kept appointments for medical, health education and other support

5,880 people recruited to volunteer 33,595 hours to assist health centers and other community-based organizations with addressing health and human needs. Of these volunteers, 806 were baby boomers, 458 were disadvantaged children and 1,141 were college students.

How Community HealthCorps Works

NACHC(Parent Organization)

Community Health Center or Primary Care Association (Program Sponsor Site)

Host Site (Member Placement Site)

Program Sponsor Sites

Health Centers are the placement sites and the predominant sponsors of the Community HealthCorps. Program sponsor sites:

– Make financial contribution to the program– Hire the program coordinator– Recruit Community HealthCorps members for their team– Provide the bulk of the member training– Manage day to day member service activities

Benefits of Serving

• Living Allowance for some FT (1700 hr) and HT (900 hr) members

• Education Award after successful completion of agreed upon term of service, can be used to pay off federally qualified student loans and for future schooling

• Health Insurance for FT and HT members serving in FT capacity

• Child Care assistance for members meeting eligibility requirements

• Loan forbearance and payment of accrued interest while serving upon successful completion

• Unique training opportunities and experience related to community health

Member Roles

What do Community HealthCorps members do?• Direct Service: Work that addresses human need, the

environment, public safety, education. Members work directly with clients and community members.• Providing training, education, and outreach• Counseling• Recruiting volunteers• Enrolling clients in public health insurance programs and health

center services

• Indirect Service or Capacity-Building Activities:• Member training• Curriculum Development• Grant writing

Ideal Community HealthCorps Placements

• Fill gaps in service• Outreach to vulnerable and/or underserved populations• Development or new position(s)• Involve service that would not otherwise get done and/or

expands availability of services• Utilizes unique talents of individual members• Does not displace or duplicate any paid employee providing

the same or similar service at the site• Provides opportunities for HealthCorps members to perform

direct service that addresses health and/or human needs in the community

Expected Costs to Managing a Community HealthCorps Program

• The federal grant provides roughly between 50-65% of the program depending how an agency dedicates its resources

• The agency would be expected to match on the living stipend and some program operating costs (this match is comprised of cash and in-kind match)

• As a rough estimate, programs would expect to match approximately $6,000-8,000 per full-time HealthCorps member.

• Sample program budgets of all different sizes are available upon request

Examples of Volunteer Assignments in the Health Care Sector

• When HealthCorps members recruit volunteers, it is to help their host organizations

–Support patients

–Connect with the community

–Connect across cultural lines and perhaps work in global

connections

• Host organization needs & visions vary… and so do the tasks volunteers take on.

• A few examples:

Support for Homeless Patients

Penobscot Community Health Services (Bangor, ME)–Volunteers work alongside HealthCorps members at a drop

in center in a clinic for the homeless providing social

interactions & support, helping with literacy skills, providing

group education sessions in various subjects of interest to

the patients, and helping with benefit applications.

San Francisco Community Clinic Consortium Mobile Unit

(San Francisco, CA)–Volunteers and HealthCorps members assist transient

populations and their pets access health care and housing

services

The Jason Program (Portland, ME)–The program provides clinical services to children with

terminal diagnoses & wanted to supplement with social

support & with assistance with practical needs for them and

their families . The HealthCorps member, in consultation

with clinicians:• Developed policies and protocols• Developed the training curriculum• Recruited and trained volunteers• Supervised volunteer activities

Pediatric Palliative Care

Cherry Street Health Services (Grand Rapids, MI)–Community HealthCorps members helped to repaint a

community mural that had faded and was an eyesore.

United Neighborhood Health Srvcs (Nashville, TN)–Community HealthCorps members responded to the

devastating floods by providing health care services to

displaced residents

Community Revitalization/Disaster Response

Yakima Valley Farmworkers Health Center (Toppenish,

WA) and Brownsville Community Health Center

(Brownsville, TX)–Community HealthCorps members work with other volunteers

and promotoras to connect patients to necessary health care

services by:• Providing transportation to appointments (unreimbursed),• Helping the patient find & secure the help he or she needs from

the health care system, and/or• Offering translational services to help the patients understand

clinical directions from doctors

Patient navigation of health care services

Health fairs and group service events

All Community HealthCorps programs (and community

health centers)–Recruit volunteers throughout the year to assist with health

fairs, blood drives, community food drives, etc

–Coordinate with other agencies to respond to other

community needs (e.g., back to school immunization drives)

–Part of the team responding to local disasters (and at times

perhaps across state lines if clinical support is needed)

Visit Our Website!

www.communityhealthcorps.org

Where Health Care Volunteerism is Going

• Expansion of National Service Resources

• Social Innovation and Competitions

• Micro-volunteerism

• Pro-bono volunteers

• Social Networking

National Service Growing

• The Kennedy Serve America Act called for distinct focused programs, including health care. Expansion of national service resources could help non-profits in the health care arena expand outreach and education services, develop new programming (especially around childhood obesity prevention), and identify a new generation of individuals interested in health care careers

• Learn more at www.cns.gov

Social Innovation and Competitions

• Initiatives like the Social Innovation Fund or the Race to the Top in the Department of Education are the beginning stages of a new path of funding for non-profits.

• Good ideas could become reality and alternative solutions to solve health care disparities and problems could be funded through innovation funds and competitions

• The Pepsi Refresh Challenge took a several million dollar marketing budget and turned it into a national giving campaign

Micro-volunteer Opportunities

• Most used in disaster response, but great potential to assist with geo-mapping and community development, micro-volunteering is a new trend using smart phones to call upon the masses of potential volunteers to give back on short notice and for a short time period.

• Check out http://app.beextra.org/home/ to learn more (type in “health” to the search field)

• IBM World Community Grid: deploy volunteers’ idle computers to create a free, open source lab for clinical researchers around the world (http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/145/look-whos-curing-cancer.html)

ProBono Volunteers

• For as many “hands on volunteers” there may be, there are also probono volunteers who want to be “hands off”. These volunteers know that they can offer a service or an expertise (e.g., marketing, writing, etc) and may even be able to offer that with never meeting in person. Many volunteer websites like Volunteer Match and Idealist are allowing you to post volunteer listings to this target audience. Also, it could be a great opportunity to engage corporate volunteers.

Social Networking

• If you did not “tweet” or “update your FB status” during this session you are already behind.

• Twitter and Facebook are essential to every non-profit in recruiting, retaining and promoting volunteers, their service to the agency and the success of the agency in meeting the demands of the communities they serve.

• @CommHealthCorps or www.facebook.com/communityhealthcorps are two places to check out

Thank you

Jason Patnosh, National Director-Community HealthCorps / Associate Vice President, National Association of Community Health Centers

@jpatnosh

@CommHealthCorps

jpatnosh@nachc.com