Community Health Advocates make a difference in California

Blue Shield of California, in partnership with several community clinics across California, has embedded dozens of Community Health Advocates into local care teams as part of its efforts to address social needs.

A recent news piece and video, featured in the Sacramento Bee, tells the story of how one community health advocate, Stuart, has made a concrete difference in one individual’s life, Kenneth, by building a trusting relationship and helping to identify and advocate for what matters most to Kenneth.

Formal medical care is really only accountable for about 20% of what produces health in a person. The other 80% is from... the rest of our lives. Those are things like housing, food security, transportation, (intimate partner) violence, all of those other issues. We started the health advocate program to be the bridge from the physicians’ office, the formal medical community, to all of those other services.

[In this case]…Stuart didn’t consider it done when Kenneth got housing. If there’s anything we’ve learned about social determinants (of health), these outside factors that can affect your health, it is that they don’t just get fixed once. Someone might have a setback, or the system might turn against them or make things untenable. So you actually have to continue to be persistent and vigilant and form that relationship.

- Peter Long, senior vice president of health care and community health transformation at Blue Shield

Since October 2019, CHaSCI has worked in close collaboration with Partners in Care Foundation and the Blue Shield team to train and support these Community Health Advocates in skills like motivational interviewing, addressing loneliness, and communicating across cultures.

To learn more about this project and CHaSCI’s community health trainings, contact us.