The Bible’s parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:25-37) tells of a man who goes out of his way to help an injured man by providing funds for his recovery when he couldn’t care for himself and no one else was willing.
Brandy Wilson can relate. As a Quality Care Support Registered Nurse at Rivers Health, she spends much of her time connecting dots between patients and their needs after they’re discharged. She often makes discoveries that a patient has had a lapse in insurance coverage for a time or has lost a job and can’t afford a needed medication. She doesn’t hesitate to jump into action.
“That’s the reason I switched (from the ICU) to this,” she said. “It’s the ability to help people. I enjoy taking care of people, and I just take care of them like I would take care of my own family.”
Wilson and Rivers Health now have the backing of the Good Samaritan program run by Rivers Health Foundation, a member of MHN Foundations. The Good Samaritan program is well-established at both Cabell Huntington Hospital and St. Mary’s Medical Center but its new for Rivers Health. Each facility deals with its own patients, but the umbrella program provides funds dedicated to each campus.
It doesn’t cover major procedures. The Good Samaritan funds provide benefits to patients in the form of assistance with travel to and from necessary medical appointments, like chemotherapy, for those traveling measurable distances for care, and assistance obtaining necessary preventive health screenings, like mammograms, for those who are uninsured or underinsured. While there are no set income requirements, it is left up to the discretion of the providers, such as Wilson, who have direct contact with the patient and see the need firsthand.
“It’s funded by donors from the community,” said Rev. Rory Chapman, executive director of FaithHealth Appalachia, a member of MHN Foundations. “It’s not grants, though we’ve obtained some grant funding for the Good Samaritan funds. It’s sometimes from people who have been a patient or needed help and chose to give back. Sometimes it’s just individual donors who want to help others.”
Chapman noted an example of a patient who had experienced tooth decay as a result of chemotherapy treatments for cancer but lacked dental insurance. The Good Samaritan fund was able to help him get the needed dental procedure. Ultimately, it is simply to provide access to care for those who need help for whatever reason.
“It just makes sense when you think of its name,” he said. “At it’s heart it models what we’re instructed to do, help our neighbor access care.”
Wilson sees it personally and knows many patients in precarious situations have no one to help advocate for them. It motivates her to go the extra mile. Whether it is working within the guidelines of the Good Samaritan fund, making phone calls to the West Virginia Department of Health and Human Services, finding ways to get someone help with their utility bills, or helping to get someone’s Medicare reestablished, she’s up to the task.
She said much of what she sees are people that have chronic issues or there’s a gap or extra hurdle of some kind. Occasionally she has a patient with a more acute issue, such as a man recently who lacked the Medicare coverage to get the medication needed as part of his long-term follow-up care. He would be discharged only to be readmitted soon after when the problems returned.
Wilson reports that as a result of the Good Samaritan program meeting his pressing need, that gentleman is finally seeing marked improvements in his health.
“You don’t always see the end results, but they do come,” she said. “Some of these are really life-saving situations. It’s imperative for patients who have some degree of social detriments to their health.”
Wilson said the patients’ medical providers, the doctors and nurses treating them directly, sometimes learn about the needs, but often it’s her follow-up phone calls that reveal the need for help. She said most people are ashamed to ask for help when they truly need it, and her message to patients is simple.
“There is no shame in asking for help,” she said. “We are here to help. If we don’t have the answer, we might know someone who does.”
