Caring for the Mind and Spirit  

Affinity Medical Home offers advantages in Behavioral Health 

Affinity's new model for primary care, Affinity Medical Home, covers all the bases of personalized care. Your primary care provider works side-by-side with a variety of providers to treat your mind, body, and spirit. One of the key players on your Medical Home team is a Behavioral Health care coordinator.

"With the Medical Home team approach, there is an added emphasis on holistic care and the effects physical and mental health have on the other," says Barb Viste-Johnson, LCSW, Behavioral Health care coordinator for Affinity Medical Home in Kaukauna. This means your providers are working together to care for your full spectrum of needs.

What are the advantages to you, the patient?

• Everything happens in familiar territory. If you need services from a Behavioral Health professional, your primary care provider can refer you to a colleague within the same clinic -someone who will be communicating closely with your doctor, in total confidence.
   
• Faster scheduling. You won't have to wait weeks to get the assistance you need. Once you agree to a referral, Behavioral Health appointments can often be scheduled within a day or two.
   
• Specialized care. Many primary care providers have extensive knowledge in treating behavioral health concerns, yet when needed, they acknowledge Affinity's counseling specialists offer an even greater level of expertise. Your primary care provider can easily refer you to a Behavioral Health care coordinator within your Medical Home, because it's the best choice for your health.

What conditions do the Medical Home Behavioral Health care coordinators treat?
Affinity Medical Home Behavioral Health care coordinators can help patients with a variety of concerns, including:

• depression
• anxiety
• trauma
• eating disorders
• grief
• life transition stressors
• sleep disturbance
• family conflict and/or dysfunction
• couples issues
• ADHD
• difficulty adhering to the primary care provider's plan of care
• and more.

What happens at a Behavioral Health visit?
Affinity Medical Home Behavioral Health providers use a three-step process.

• Step one - complete a comprehensive evaluation of your health history and current situation
   
• Step two - develop a treatment plan based on your measurable goals
   
• Step three - "I typically have 'homework' for patients to do between visits to carry what we discuss into their lives on a day-to-day basis," Barb says.

Affinity's Behavioral Health care coordinators are on your side, working closely with you and your primary care provider to achieve optimal emotional and physical wellness. "We approach each patient as a unique individual," Barb says, "trying to understand his or her life experience as if I were in my patient's shoes."

And that is what Affinity calls personalized care.  

Prevent Suicide;
Know the Signs
 QPR Gatekeeper Training  
 

October is Depression Awareness Month. Can you recognize the signs of depression? How do you know if your co-worker, neighbor, or family member is suffering from depression - or worse? You can help prevent the tragedy of suicide, by knowing how to read and respond to the warning signs.

QPR Training stands for Question, Persuade, Refer - a process that counselors urge all local organizations to consider exploring among their own workforce.

"You can't just have professional clinicians asking the suicide question," says Scott Radtke, licensed professional counselor with Affinity Health System and Lawrence University. "We need all kinds of people in all sorts of disciplines knowing the warning signs, asking the questions, persuading people to get help, and giving them information on what to do next."

Three years ago, leaders at Lawrence University recognized a need for suicide prevention training. Through a federal grant, they rolled out a QPR training program and empowered nearly 1,800 individuals in our community with the knowledge to save lives by intervening when a potential suicide case is detected.

These trained individuals, called gatekeepers, are stationed within local health care systems, school districts, Goodwill Industries, and NAMI (National Alliance for Mental Illness). Together they're starting a grass roots awareness of suicide prevention.

How does QPR Training work?
Working with a qualified Gatekeeper trainer, QPR participants learn the warning signs of suicide, how to have sensitive conversations with people at risk for suicide, and what to do with the answers when they learn a person needs help. QPR training raises awareness of the Behavioral Health services available at Affinity and elsewhere.

Why should employers be interested?
The statistics are frightening. Of 153 adolescent survivors of near lethal suicide attempts, 25 percent acted within five minutes of the impulse to do so, and 71 percent acted within one hour (as reported by David Mays, 03/16/2010).

Your employees may be at risk. Do you know who they are? Do you know how to help them? If not, QPR training is the right thing to do.

"Seventy percent of people who die by suicide saw a primary care provider within a month prior," Scott explains. "This speaks to how critical it is to have a large pool of people trained by QPR who know the signs so they can refer a person at risk to the appropriate resources."

If you're interested in learning more about QPR training for your organization, call Affinity Occupational Health at 1-800-541-0351.