Many people remember where they were at pivotal historical moments. If I were to mention COVID-19, you might be able to recall where you were when you first heard about the shutdown, how you began to restructure your life, and perhaps even the sense of uncertainty that seemed to permeate every moment.
When COVID hit, I was a fellow in Emergency Medicine at CHOP. I had just learned I was pregnant with my second child and split my time between preparing for this new virus and navigating the challenges of a lack of childcare with newfound social isolation. While these circumstances were unwelcome, I was fortunate enough to have a stable job and ways to reliably provide for my family.
The same was not true for many of the families coming to our ER.
Being in the ER is stressful enough, but during the early days of COVID families spoke of the even greater stressors that waited at home. Parents didn’t know how they were going to pay rent, afford food, and what they would do for childcare when they were able to go back to work. The list of needs related to the social determinants of health went on and on.
I wasn’t the only one hearing these stories, and we knew help was needed. A group of dedicated nurses, social workers, and doctors banded together to create Family Connects. Family Connects began with the simple goal of connecting families to community organizations that addressed their unique needs. However, since starting in April 2020, Family Connects has grown to utilize a diverse student workforce in health-related degree programs to provide emotional support, social needs assessment, resource navigation, and referral services to families that come to CHOP’s Philadelphia campus ER. We have also incorporated additional services aimed at keeping families safe and healthy, such as giving out gun locks.
To date, our program has reached out to more than 20500 families and successfully provided resources and emotional support to over 6000 of them. We connect families at greatest risk with social workers and have distributed 1300 gun locks. More than 300 students have participated in and received hands-on education on the importance of this work.
This is just the beginning for Family Connects. With additional funding, we’re looking toward expanding our outreach to CHOP’s King of Prussia Campus, enhancing the breadth of our current follow-up work, and creating additional opportunities for student education.
If you happen to find yourself at the Emergency Department in Philadelphia, you’ll likely receive a text from Family Connects reaching out. Reply! We’re here to help.
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Many people remember where they were at pivotal historical moments. If I were to mention COVID-19, you might be able to recall where you were when you first heard about the shutdown, how you began to restructure your life, and perhaps even the sense of uncertainty that seemed to permeate every moment.
When COVID hit, I was a fellow in Emergency Medicine at CHOP. I had just learned I was pregnant with my second child and split my time between preparing for this new virus and navigating the challenges of a lack of childcare with newfound social isolation. While these circumstances were unwelcome, I was fortunate enough to have a stable job and ways to reliably provide for my family.
The same was not true for many of the families coming to our ER.
Being in the ER is stressful enough, but during the early days of COVID families spoke of the even greater stressors that waited at home. Parents didn’t know how they were going to pay rent, afford food, and what they would do for childcare when they were able to go back to work. The list of needs related to the social determinants of health went on and on.
I wasn’t the only one hearing these stories, and we knew help was needed. A group of dedicated nurses, social workers, and doctors banded together to create Family Connects. Family Connects began with the simple goal of connecting families to community organizations that addressed their unique needs. However, since starting in April 2020, Family Connects has grown to utilize a diverse student workforce in health-related degree programs to provide emotional support, social needs assessment, resource navigation, and referral services to families that come to CHOP’s Philadelphia campus ER. We have also incorporated additional services aimed at keeping families safe and healthy, such as giving out gun locks.
To date, our program has reached out to more than 20500 families and successfully provided resources and emotional support to over 6000 of them. We connect families at greatest risk with social workers and have distributed 1300 gun locks. More than 300 students have participated in and received hands-on education on the importance of this work.
This is just the beginning for Family Connects. With additional funding, we’re looking toward expanding our outreach to CHOP’s King of Prussia Campus, enhancing the breadth of our current follow-up work, and creating additional opportunities for student education.
If you happen to find yourself at the Emergency Department in Philadelphia, you’ll likely receive a text from Family Connects reaching out. Reply! We’re here to help.
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