Author: Graciela Hasbun

Interview – Kaley Kubiac- Transportation Coordinator Riverbend Cancer Services

Posted on by Graciela Hasbun

Ethnographic Summary

Kaley Kubiak

Transportation Coordinator for Riverbend Cancer Services

Alexandra Charron interviewed Kaley Kubiak, the transportation coordinator for Riverbend Cancer Services, a South Bend nonprofit that provides assistance, services, and support to low income cancer patients and their families. Kaley was able to share the successful transportation scheduling system that Riverbend uses and how she is able to schedule 300 patients transportation to and from their appointments. She also provided insight on the various transportation optional available to low income patients.

 

Date: 3/2/17
Type: In person interview
Location: Notre Dame Bookstore as she is a student

Team Participants: Alexandra Charron

 

User Characteristics:

  • Female, age 21
  • Part time employee (15- 20 hrs/ week) at Riverbend Cancer Services, formerly worked full time over the summer
  • Job is to schedule transportation to appointments for low income cancer patients
  • Senior at St Mary’s college
  • Majoring in Communicative Science with a Minor in Social Work
  • Employed since May 2016, took over transportation system from predecessor Mollie

Memorable Quotes

  • “ If we were not providing transportation they would not be coming to appointments”
  • “Scheduling one single ride might take 7 separate phone calls and conversations”
  • “ Most of my clients do not even have cell phones and if they do they are flip phones”
  • “ We only have 300 dollars to spend on each patient each year and somehow we make it work. We get them to all of their appointments which can mean weeks of radiation and chemo. I have only had two people run of the money”
  • “ We have to make every dollar count and stretch the 300 dollars and we do that by having lots of transportation options”
  • “ Someone will call me at 930 am and tell me they need to get to an appointment at 130pm. .They could have called me 2 weeks ago but they didn’t”.

Key Insights

  • Kaley spend 15- 20 hours a week solely focused on scheduling transportation for 300 patients and says the phone is constantly ringing off the hook and it takes her working efficiently and swiftly for the full time in order to make sure everything is scheduled.
  • Riverbend conducted stress screening on clients in relation to transportation and found a significant decrease in stress when transportation was provided to them.
  • Kaley said that her personal relationships with healthcare providers and the social workers at the hospitals and healthcare facilities is essential to her success in order to make it efficient and successful.
  • Patients inform Kaley of their need for transportation and appointments times in all forms. She receives these requests in person, over the phone, through email and from a social worker or health care provider.
  • Riverbend uses a verification process to confirm appointments and make sure gas cards and transportation is being used for intended purpose. This is where the relationships with the health care providers comes into play
  • Patients miss scheduled pickups all the time but there is nothing Kaley can do. She just tells them they risk not being able to use that service again. Some services charge a no show fee and that is deducted from their 300$ budget
  • Pickup is usually an hour before scheduled appointment . Pickup from the appointment is dependent on service. In some cases the patient will call when done with appointment and be picked up 20 minutes later and in other cases Kaley will have to ask physician how long appointment is supposed to last and inform transportation service.

 

River Bend Transportation Method Selection Process

 

    • Ask Patient if they have access to a car
      • YES
        • Provide them with gas card
        • Calculate amount with algorithm
          • 15 miles per gallon
          • Round trip mileage
          • Number of appointments
      • NO
        • What kind of Insurance do you have
          • Medicaid ( Can also use no insurance options if below doesn’t work)
            • Patriot

 

 

              • Medicaid Approved transportation
              • 16$ minimum
              • Serves surrounding area and will also go farther away
            • LCP

 

 

              • Accepts medicaid patients patriot wont
              • Only accepts medicaid
          • No insurance
            • American Cancer Society Volunteers

 

 

              • Free volunteer service
              • Not always available
            • Transpo access

 

 

              • Have to apply
              • Have physician sign off
              • 4$ rides round trip
              • Pick up from home
              • Have to schedule 2 weeks in advance
            • Patriot

 

 

              • More expensive without Medicaid
            • Perfect Time
              • Last resort
              • Wheelchair accessible and will provide assistance
              • 75$ round trip

 

 

Environment

  • Notre Dame Bookstore
  • Was unable to coordinate time to meet at Riverbend as she is part time and class schedules did not coordinate

 

 

 

Ethnographic Research – Immersion at Downtown Soup Kitchen

Posted on by Graciela Hasbun

Date of Immersion: 2/17/17 and 3/3/17
Location: United Methodist Church
Type: Immersion Experience
Event: Soup Kitchen
Event Description: This church in South Bend serves as a soup kitchen on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. It serves people in need, whether they are homeless or not. Food is prepped on location in the kitchen, and donations are taken from local establishments such as Martin’s Supermarket and Panera Bread. From 12:00 to 12:45 pm, soup, drinks, and other foods are distributed to individuals. Additionally, individuals are allowed to take food from a small food pantry on the side of the room and may also take soup to take away.

Key Takeaways:

Role of Nutrition
There are an abundance of resources to provide food for the homeless population in South Bend. There are several soup kitchens like this one, as well as food banks. Both people who are homeless and who are not go to the soup kitchen to get food. Since they cannot afford nutritious meals, the food banks are the best way to eat more healthily. If they do not go to the soup kitchen, they are likely to eat at fast food restaurants. We noticed that many of the individuals would go back for seconds and thirds, as well as take food from the food bank and take a to-go bag of chili for later in the day. It is important for the soup kitchens to provide these people with meals that will keep the homeless population full for more than just that day.

Lack of Woman in Relation to Men
From our observations, many of the individuals who show up to eat at the soup kitchen were male. Although there were a few women and one family that came both times, they were in the minority. We were unsure if there were less women because they feel unsafe or uncomfortable, but there is a good chance that there are less homeless women in South Bend because of the danger posed against them. Additionally, they may use this resource less often than men because we found some of the men were taking food back to their wives—wherever they might be staying.

Time of the Month
Our first immersion occurred in the middle of February, which was much busier than when we visited again in the first week of March. After asking pastor Robert Powell as well as some of the regular volunteers, Marty and Paul, we found that visitation of the soup kitchen fluctuates depending on the time of the month. The beginning of each month, individuals receive paychecks, either welfare, disability, or from their jobs; therefore, they have more money to spend on food and other resources. Meanwhile, more people come during the middle of the month because they have either used up their checks or their funds have reached too low to pay for food.

Ethnographic Research – Expert Interview

Posted on by Graciela Hasbun

Date: 3/3/17
Type: Expert Interview
Location: Downtown Soup Kitchen at First United Methodist Church
User: Robert Powell is a part-time pastor at the First United Methodist Church where the soup kitchen is held on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. Yuwei, Paul, and I interviewed him to get his expertise on the homeless population he comes into contact with almost every day.

Male, middle aged

Retired firefighter, part-time pastor

Summary of Interview
One of the biggest issues with South Bend’s homeless population is drug and alcohol abuse, mental illness, and Give the homeless population
motivation to want to change by giving them the resources to do so. A good example of a structured progra for the homeless population is Hope Ministries. They give people a place to sleep and provide meals, but they require residents to take classes in order to better themselves.

Key Takeaways
Many of the city’s resources are not wholesome enough to keep homeless people off the streets. Places like the Center for the Homeless give the homeless a place to sleep for the night, but it does not stop them from panhandling during the day. These places give them no structure or incentive to live more independently and responsibly.

Memorable Quotes
“Some of them [homeless people that stay at the Methodist Church] come from drug court. They have alcohol and drug problems. Rather than the judge send them to jail because they’re good people, they send them upstairs.”

“There are requirements they have to do, go to classes and go to Oak Lawn and go through what is called IOP, intensive outpatient program and it’s a good program, but you can’t force somebody to change their life.”

“It’s a six month program they go through [Hope Ministries] and if they do that and they graduate they can live there for two years.”

“Bringing them in at 8 o’clock at night and kicking them out in the morning isn’t the thing to do because during the day they’re panhandling, doing their drugs and alcohol.”

“They need to send people out in the field and talk to these homeless people and give them a program—you can’t tell them to go and do this and do that…they’re not used to showering, used to doing laundry, it’s like training a child again. You forget these people are coming from the streets.”

“You can’t force them, you can’t change somebody, they’re going to have to want to change.”

“The city is trying to do a quick fix…there is no structure, no professional people, no counseling to help these people.”

Expert Interview- Michelle Peters, Director of Community Health and Wellbeing for St Joseph’s Health Systems

Posted on by Graciela Hasbun

Expert Interview 2/13/16

Phone Interview led by Alexandra Charron with whole team present

The team started off our expert interviews by interviewing project contact Michelle Peters to get her perspective on the project and define a scope. Michelle is the Director of Community Health and Well- Being for Saint Joseph Health System. Through speaking with her, our team discovered the following issues and insights.

  1. The current systems in place are ineffective, underfunded, and often not utilized.
  2. The system needs to be flexible to appointment times and durations and often patients need to go to other locations after the appointment besides home. ( ex. Pharmacy, Physical Therapy, Medical Supply Shop or Grocery Store)
  3. There were several programs and systems tried before such as Angel Wings which were unsuccessful.
  4. The Transpo system is limited by funding and doesn’t have weekend routes, late night hours, or routes that cover all medical facilities.

Michelle also provided us with contact information of other experts within the St Joseph Health Care system as well as contacts at other organizations in the area to speak with who might provide context, experience, or advice.

Confianza Kitengo

Posted on by Graciela Hasbun

For this Project we will be working with the organization Imani Unidad.
-Imani means faith or trust in Swahili, and Unidad means unity in Spanish-
In return, our group’s name symbolizes the same mission and idea: “Confianza Kitengo“. Confianza means faith or trust in Spanish, and Kitengo means unity in Swahili.