Helping in Other Ways

American Red Cross chapters offer a wide range of services to meet the needs of their communities. For the Midway-Kansas Chapter, that means recruiting volunteers to translate textbooks into Braille for students in their school system. The Seattle-King County Chapter started a Language Bank, with the help of a cadre of volunteers who, collectively, speak more than 60 languages. The chapter helps clients access services by assigning volunteer interpreters and translators to help clients with limited or no English speaking skills communicate with English speaking service providers. The Greater Houston Area Chapter runs Project Care, a utilities assistance program for seniors in crisis. The Tacoma-Pierce County Chapter Statewide Health Insurance Benefits Advisors program provides trained volunteers to assist people with their health insurance questions. Contact your local chapter to find out if they offer any of these services in your area.

Devoted Doctor Joins Red Cross to Help Homeless Children

Written by Jessica Bernstein, Redcross.org

Homeless children often have difficulty getting the medical care they need. Potentially more vulnerable to disease because of poor nutrition, lack of immunizations, and crowded living conditions in shelters, homeless children are among those most in need of medical care but they may receive the least. Those who live on the street may be the most vulnerable of all.

Enter Dr. Rene Bartos, a Tucson pediatrician who has teamed up with the Children's Health Program of the American Red Cross Southern Arizona Chapter. Dr. Bartos applied for the position with the program after seeing advertisements seeking a nurse. The nationwide nursing shortage was making staffing the project a very difficult job. When Richard White, the chapter's executive director, saw Dr. Bartos' application, he jumped at the chance to hire her. What he didn't understand was why a physician would apply for this part-time position that paid $20 per hour.

"I could work in a practice and make $150,000 my first year," explains Dr. Bartos. "But that's not the kind of doctoring I want to do. These children have no other advocates, and even their families don't take care of them." She recalls treating a 17-year old girl who came to the clinic because she was feeling very ill. Dr. Bartos determined that the girl was pregnant. When Bartos broke the news, the girl panicked, saying she would rather kill herself than face the embarrassment of having a baby as a high school student. Doctor and patient talked for three hours, then together they went to the girl's home and met with her family.

Since Bartos joined the program, two other Tucson pediatricians heard about it and immediately volunteered to conduct examinations and treat clients. Since then, sixty additional community volunteers have been recruited and trained.

Dr. Bartos triages medical needs, treats minor illnesses and injuries, and provides information and self-help skills about a broad spectrum of health topics. Among the topics she covers are pregnancy prevention, sexually transmitted diseases, immunizations, communicable diseases, poison control, nutrition, and parenting. She also counsels young, single parents and homeless teens to help them build the skills they need to obtain longer-term housing, secure jobs, and care for their children. Bartos and her volunteer staff have helped a number of clients obtain assistance through Arizona's Medicaid program and KidsCare, the state's health insurance for children under age 19.

Funded by a grant from a private foundation, the Children's Health Program also transports children to medical and dental appointments and gives them bus passes so they can stay in school. The program supplies baby food, nutritional supplements, medications, personal care products, clothing, shoes, and school supplies to children in need. In a recent six-month period, the program provided more than $21,000 worth of supplies; Bartos and her colleagues treated 110 homeless children and offered educational sessions and referrals to an additional 380 clients.

Negotiating the health care system is one of the many ways that Bartos and program volunteers help clients. Recently, a family was referred to the program because a teenage girl was missing school for prolonged periods. The girl was staying at home to care for her mother, who has bone tumors. The family was living in temporary housing and the mom had just gotten on Medicaid. She tried to get an appointment with her primary care doctor and was told there would be a three month wait. In desperation, she sought treatment and pain relief at the local hospital's emergency department. Once this family was referred to the American Red Cross, Dr. Bartos intervened. Bartos called Health Choice, part of Arizona's Medicaid program, and had a three-way conversation that included the doctor's office. The woman got an appointment for the following week; Health Choice even sent transportation for her.

According to Richard White, the Children's Health Program provides a unique service for a highly vulnerable population. White explains, "By helping homeless children and their families obtain essential medical care and resolving related problems, we are moving these families toward a future of self-sufficiency."

For more information about this chapter, visit their Web site.