Camden Coalition of Healthcare Providers Helping Communities

As part of NJTV’s "In Your Neighborhood" series from Camden, NJ, Steve Adubato goes one-on-one with Victor Murray, Program Director, Care Management Initiative, Camden Coalition of Healthcare Providers to talk about the state of healthcare for residents of Camden and the importance of collaboration among providers to create healthier communities.

3/23/17 #2027

Excerpt:

"Welcome back. We are pleased to welcome to the show Victor Murray, who is Program Director, Care Management Initiative, the Camden Coalition of Healthcare Providers. Good to see you Victor. Good to see you too. Describe your organization. Yeah. So the Camden Coalition is a fascinating organization, made up of a really mixed bucket of work. We have data, engagement, and then also clinical redesign. When we talk about data at the Camden Coalition, really we use it to drive rich and targeted conversations with, you know, providers, community, residents, and also institutions. We also use our data to identify really targeted subsets of the population to address them by means of interventions. When we think about engagement, that's an engagement on a number of different levels. And so that's engagement of the community, residents, working with them in the homes, hospitals, across behavioral health, mental health systems. That's also engagement on a policy level as well. And then when we talk about clinical redesign, basically that just means we have to do things differently. The healthcare system as we know it doesn't work, and it's not efficient. And so it's more about change management. Let me ask you, the community of Camden? Just two or three of the most significant healthcare challenges people face in this community? Yeah so it's a lot of barriers, as you can imagine. When we think about just Camden and its totality, and the social structure that's kinda built up, but if I had to name two, I would probably say one is housing for many of the patients. As a health issue? As a health issue. How so? Believe it or not. And so housing is really healthcare. If a person is not housed, then how can they manage their health needs? If I don't have a home with a refrigerator, then where can I place my insulin for my diabetes? And so really, it's a core. It's fundamental for a person to be able to address their health needs in an effective manner. Beyond that, housing, what else? I would say transportation. Just access. Yeah, you smile, believe it or not, most of us just... Transportation a health issue? A health issue. Can't get to the healthcare that I need? Yeah. Access. So how do you...? How does your organization, the Camden Coalition of Healthcare Providers, how do you help people who are dealing with housing problems? Transportation problems? Yeah so I think it's looking at healthcare in a very broad view. Healthcare is more than just physical health. Healthcare encompasses mental health, behavioral health, addiction, substance abuse, housing, employment, transportation..."