While many community health centers had to rethink their outreach strategy at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, Winn Community Health Center (Winn CHC) in rural Louisiana was positioned well to care for patients as they had successfully implemented telehealth three years prior. The health center initially built out their telehealth capabilities to best serve their rural population.
Winn CHC has also shown a tremendous commitment to its pediatric patients over the years – creating a care team including; a nurse, nurse practitioner and behavioral health specialist, to work directly with schools to keep students in class and parents at work.
What began as one small entity in 2009 has now morphed into numerous other healthcare locations, including seven standalone clinics, up to 35 schoolbased health centers and a mobile unit in the community where physicians and dentists can provide health and oral care outside of the office setting. With such a broad reach, the innovative approach to care taken by Winn CHC has changed the lives of many.
“Sandy and the team at Winn CHC go above and beyond to care for our members. With every engagement Sandy has with a patient she is looking at how to improve their whole health and that includes things like food and housing, much more than just healthcare,”
Dinah Walker,
Clinical Transformation Consultant,
UnitedHealthcare Community Plan of Louisiana
“Winn CHC has a premiere model for patient outreach, we meet the patients where they are in the community, we make care easy and accessible,” emphasized Mary Green, Patient Care Coordinator, Winn Community Health Center.
It’s this kind of deep care for the community that has been the motivation to further expand and develop whole person care for their entire population. UnitedHealthcare has been able to serve as a partner to Winn CHC during this expansion providing funding through the FQHC Transformation Investments Program created to increase access and capacity for FQHC partners caring for an incredibly vulnerable patient population.
While telemedicine has been vital to providing care to patients served by Winn CHC, the funding has allowed the team to dedicate a full-time staff member to care for UnitedHealthcare members living with chronic conditions.
With so many chronic conditions impacting a subset of the 2,400 UnitedHealthcare patients served by Winn CHC – personal outreach has been monumental in identifying issues, managing care, and improving care coordination. For instance, through one call, a patient experiencing homelessness explained that she was unable to manage her diabetes because of the socioeconomic factors impacting her. Sandy Wilson, Winn CHC Patient Care Coordinator, worked tirelessly to help the individual gain access to the resources needed in addition to helping her with her health conditions.
“Sandy and the team at Winn CHC go above and beyond to care for our members. With every engagement Sandy has with a patient she is looking at how to improve their whole health and that includes things like food and housing, much more than just healthcare,” shared Dinah Walker, Clinical Transformation Consultant, UnitedHealthcare Community Plan of Louisiana
Because of Winn’s dedication to the patients they serve, the UnitedHealthcare members and Louisianans in their care have experienced improved health outcomes thanks to the wraparound services and continuous support they receive regularly. It is through the collaboration of our community health center partners like Winn and others across the country that we are truly able to help people live healthier lives.
2,400
UnitedHealthcare patients served
To learn more about the Winn Community Health Center, visit https://www.winnchc.org/
