We believe in participatory healthcare.
We believe that health begins with individuals, families and communities, and taking care of health is as much about paying attention to whether there are safe places for us to walk, affordable fresh fruits and vegetables available to buy, and ready access to hospitals and doctors. We believe that too often people have been disconnected and disempowered in relation to ownership of our health by a condescending healthcare system, ignoring our values and lifestyles, and medicalizing the most basic steps in caring for ourselves and our loved ones. We all need to become active participants in designing our own care – and re-designing the system as a whole.
To change that, we start with the basics. We design our system and processes with patients and families at the center, and that’s not just something we say — we really bring patients and their families in to help us design the right approaches in each community. This collaborative approach permeates everything we do, from designing care plans with individuals to incorporating local community members as lay coaches and health workers.
Our Program:
We begin by working with primary care providers in the community to identify those who are most likely to benefit from our services, generally individuals in the Medicare population with two or more chronic conditions. As a result of our work, most individuals take the next steps toward self-mastery and become action-oriented about their personal health.
Our step-wise approach:
We recognize the importance of family members and welcome their participation in the programs.