Holy Cross Hospital: Serving the Local Community through Advocacy and Transport

Presenter: Williama Carver, Global Public Health Scholars

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For my practicum I volunteered at Holy Cross Hospital as a patient advocate and a patient transporter. In my patient advocate role I created a safe environment where caregivers could leave their loved ones in my care as they went and tended to other business such as making important phone calls or getting something to eat. I also assisted people in the emergency waiting room and ensured that they had everything they needed as they waited. As a patient transporter I safely transported patients from their hospital room to their respective source of transportation which is either a personal car, uber or bus. While volunteering I was able to see how a person’s social determinants of health can impact their experience in healthcare. For example people who were making a lower income were mainly the patients I saw enter the emergency room, many of these patients did not have health insurance so they waited longer than others to receive healthcare services. I also realized the importance of having translators in the healthcare field because many of the patients who entered the hospital were patients whose first language isn't English which led to a barrier in care especially if the patient can not properly articulate what their health problem seems to be. My experience connects to public health because Holy cross Hospital is a public Hospital that serves a very diverse population of people from many different communities and backgrounds. Through my time volunteering I was able to see how things such as income status, ethnicity, etc can impact a person's access to healthcare services. However, I was able to see ways that this impact was mitigated through the doctors and nurses using their cultural competency skills and building trust in order ensure proper care is provided in this public health sector.