Community Health Worker Hub

The RUSH Community Health Worker (CHW) Hub is home to a team of frontline public health workers who partner with Rush’s clinical social workers and community health nurses to help people get the care and services they need. The team grew quickly during the first part of the COVID-19 pandemic and has since added resource navigation and support in our partner schools, emergency department and cancer center.

3,716 people were screened for the social determinants of health

951 referrals connected people to medical and mental health care in the community

I screen people in person in the emergency department and also on the phone post-discharge. The screening identifies the needs they have, and then our NowPow tool generates a list of personalized resources for them. I’ve had a lot of people who were excited to talk to me because they didn’t know there were people in the hospital doing this kind of work.

Top of the list of the needs I see is definitely housing. Transportation is another, and utility assistance. A lot of people need mental health services as well. Because we’re community members, we can relate to a lot of issues in the neighborhoods like barriers to care and health. It’s rewarding to be able to help people get the information and resources they need to live healthier and better lives.

Delilah Harris, RUSH community health worker

If someone comes through the RUSH emergency department and needs a primary care provider or a specialist, we can help. Many of the patients I work with get frustrated with technology issues, language barriers or long waits on hold with insurance providers — and if they don’t have a family member to help, they just won’t follow through. Being persistent when answers aren’t easy to come by is a big part of the job.

One person I worked with recently is an asylum seeker who’s staying in a hostel and hasn’t been on medication to control his diabetes. It took me some time to get a hold of him, but when I did I was able to get a translator involved so we could have a four-way call with Medicaid and get him set up with a specialist near where he’s staying. So many of our patients thank us for our help and tell us that they wouldn’t have known what to do to take care of their health.

Daniel Hong, RUSH community health worker