The volunteer efforts at Rudolphy are a healthy outlet for MICU staffers. “We get very caught up in helping people inside the intensive care unit, where there is a relatively high mortality rate and it can sometimes feel like our impact is very small,” Stonelake said. “So it’s nice to feel like you can reach out and help people in the community and feel like you are impacting their lives in their environment.” A grounding in the environment of those seeking care is also the guiding force for Safe Starts, an intervention effort that links community health workers and high-risk pregnant women, with the goal of reducing maternal mortality and improving health. “These ‘trained peers’ or ‘advocates’ help the women set health goals, engage with them, and empower them over the course of their pregnancy and for six months after they give birth,” said Sindhu K. Srinivas, MD, MSCE, director of Obstetrical Services at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. Evaluation is underway to assess the program’s impact, but there is already suggestion that having an advocate means women are less likely to use the emergency room, are more likely to keep their postpartum appointment, and may be more likely to breastfeed. Similar results are evidenced in the IMPaCT program of the Penn Center for Community Health Workers. Since 2011, more than 6,000 high-risk patients have worked with IMPaCT community health workers to set and achieve health goals through individualized support in their homes and neighborhoods.
23