 |
 |
 |
 |
|
|
|
|
Posts Tagged ‘
MSW ’
 The Health Reform law is important to the health and well-being of all Americans. This law is also called the Affordable Care Act. Here are some of the Health Reform law’s most important benefits for people.
More people now get health care.
 Coverage for young adults: Parents can keep their children on their health plans until age 26. Ask your insurance company how this works.
Coverage for workers: Some small businesses can get a tax credit to help pay the cost of health insurance for their workers.
Preventive health care services now cost less.
Preventive care: All new group and individual health insurance plans now must cover checkups and other preventive services for free. No more copays and no deductibles. It is the same for Medicare. Examples of preventive services include vaccinations to reduce risk of diseases such as the flu and pneumonia, mammograms, and screenings for cholesterol, high blood pressure and cancer.
Drug discounts for seniors: Seniors in the Medicare Part D prescription coverage “donut hole” (i.e., those paying 100% of their prescription costs) now get a 50% discount on their prescription drugs. The “donut hole” will be completely closed by 2020.
There are now stronger protections for people.
Insurance companies cannot deny insurance coverage to children and adolescents (under age 19) who are already sick or have a medical condition. They also cannot say they won’t cover the sickness or medical condition.
Insurance companies cannot cancel your insurance when you get sick (as long as your insurance bill is paid).
Insurance companies cannot put lifetime limits on the dollar amount of your medical coverage (as long as your insurance bill is paid). The yearly limits on the dollar amount of medical coverage will go away by 2014.
And, starting in 2014…
U.S. citizens and legal residents will be required by law to have health insurance. If they don’t, they will have to pay a fee to help pay the costs of when they do get sick. Some people will not have to pay the fee for reasons such as severe financial problems.
Under Federal law more people will be able to get Medicaid* coverage if they are under age 65 with household incomes up to 138 percent of the federal poverty level ($15,415 for a single person or $26,344 for a family of three in 2012). This is for:
- Children and adolescents
- Pregnant Women
- Parents
- Adults who do not have dependent children
Note: States do not have to provide Medicaid to more people if they choose not to. To find out if the Medicaid rules in your state will change, check with your local Medicaid office. They will be able to help you and your family enroll, if you are eligible.
New online marketplaces (called “insurance exchanges” *) in each state will offer people without health insurance and employees of small businesses a place to find out about insurance plans and shop for affordable coverage. Individuals and families who earn too much money to get Medicaid may be able to get help from the Federal government to buy insurance from an insurance exchange. Open enrollment for the exchanges will begin on October 1, 2013.
* Note: Medicaid and the insurance exchanges are for U.S. citizens and legal residents only. Undocumented immigrants are not able to get health insurance through these programs.
There will be even more protections for people starting in 2014.
If you already have a sickness or medical condition, insurance companies will not be able to keep you from getting insurance. Also, insurance companies will not be able to charge you more because you have a sickness or medical condition.
If you are a woman, insurance companies will not be able to discriminate and charge more because you are a woman.
All new health plans will have to offer unlimited yearly and lifetime coverage.
All new health plans will have a minimum package of “Essential Health Benefits.” This will include services such as:
- Outpatient services
- Emergency services
- Hospitalization
- Maternity and newborn care
- Medical and surgical care
- Mental health and substance abuse services
- Prescription drugs
- Rehabilitative services
- Laboratory services
- Preventative and wellness services
- Pediatric services (including dental and vision care)
The Affordable Care Act will bring health insurance coverage to 32 million people over the next few years. It’s important that you and your family have a health care team that can provide you with ongoing medical care.
Professional social workers are important members of the health care team. Social workers care for people in every stage of life, from children to the elderly, and help them overcome life’s most difficult challenges.
For more information about Health Reform and the Affordable Care Act, visit www.HealthCare.gov.
For more information about social workers, please click here.
###
Material provided courtesy of the National Association of Community Health Centers (www.nachc.org)
Tags: Health Reform Tips for Consumers; Stacy Collins, MSW
Posted in
Issues And Answers |
No Comments »
 Ms. Jan Whitaker, MSW, LCSW, Family and Individual Psychotherapist, Louisiana State University Medical Center, Bossier City, LA Q. Ms. Whitaker, why did you choose social work as your profession?
I chose social work because my passion is helping people . I wanted to help educate people on how to become the best he or she can be by using the principles of giving back when they have succeeded. I also wanted to help to protect the children and elderly using the legal system.
Q. How have minority social workers advanced professionally because of changing perceptions, attitudes, and political climates?
I believe that Minority Social Work has advanced professionally because (1) we as social workers have changed our way of thinking, in that we have learned to put our focus where it should have been all along — on the clients and not ourselves. And (2) I believed Minority social work has advanced because we as professionals now more than ever now realize that being a social worker has nothing to do with the color of a person’s skin gender, age, or nationality etc, but instead at the end of the day, we are all professionals who are all striving for the same goals, and that is to make a difference in the lives of others.
Honors
- Bestselling Author for book entitled “How I Got Over” can be found on Amazon.com and Barnesandnoble.com
- Master’s of Christian Counseling Degree, August 2012
To find a social worker in your area, please click here.
Tags: 2013 Black History Month Celebration, Jan Whitaker, MSW
Posted in
About |
1 Comment »
 Ms. Jeanne D. Cooper, MSW, LCSW, Policy Analyst, Family Investment Administration, and Family Violence Specialist, Maryland Department of Human Resources, Baltimore, MD Q. Ms. Cooper, why did you choose social work as a profession?
I was fortunate to spend the first 13 years of my life in the home of my maternal grandparents who believed in serving others. Their example inspired me to seek opportunities to be of service too. My grandmother organized an informal summer camp as a means for encouraging pre-teens and teens to study the Bible and to develop social skills. Together, she and I would visit the sick and, occasionally, she would send me as her good will ambassador to visit homebound neighbors. My task was to read scripture or poetry to them. My grandfather visited the city jail, especially on Christmas morning, to sing carols with other members of the male chorus of his church.
My grandparents’ examples of how one might serve others led me to consider becoming a nurse or possibly a teacher. Another influential source was that of my high school social studies teacher who introduced my class to the discipline of Sociology. I was intrigued by it to the extent that when I entered Virginia Union University, I immediately chose it as my major. During my senior year there, I took several elective courses in social welfare, so when a student recruiter from the University of Pittsburgh’s Graduate School of Social Work visited the campus with a very enticing presentation about the institution, I was ready to submit an application. I am very proud to have studied there.
Q. How does increasing diversity in the social work profession improve human services?
Common human needs are complex and multi-faceted. There are no one-size-fits-all remedies or general approaches to problems and challenges, and no homogeneous response that people have to situations that are similar. The first step toward improving human services is to acknowledge that. It is vital that a human services workforce is made up of caring, skilled and open-minded professionals whose backgrounds and perspectives creates a broad spectrum from which to draw possibilities for addressing human services issues. My social work training fostered this belief.
I reached young adulthood during the late 1960’s/early 1970’s and was motivated to seek societal changes in light of the impact the civil rights movement and a renewed appreciation of my African heritage had in my life. The news broadcasts of the day and the conversations of my peers and elders about poverty, disenfranchisement, and sub-par educational opportunities and their affects on our people prompted me to pursue social work as a means for becoming a societal change agent.
Joining the Black Student Union (BSU) while working toward the MSW degree at the University of Pittsburgh -Graduate School of Social Work provided a forum for me and other students to express our mutual belief that the history we shared with clients who looked like us should be relevant to social work. BSU members recognized that some approaches to working with clients did little to negate implications that certain populations were pre-disposed to problematic life experiences. We asserted that mainstream approaches to helping others did not address strengths of marginalized clients, particularly among African-Americans.
I cannot say that we articulated these sentiments as succinctly as I have stated them here. I can say that we were prepared to challenge the status quo and to offer solutions. The dean and professors provided an open environment for us to express our concerns and have them validated. They worked to identify and develop course content and field placements that would facilitate more inclusive, well-rounded social work instruction and real-world experiences for all students. Recruiting students of African-descent to attend the school and allowing us to raise our voices was a significant first step toward expanding diversity of that era.
Having experienced that institution’s efforts to meet the challenge of creating diversity is valuable to me. Today, racial and ethnic integration—in various forms—is commonplace as a rising number of people from across the globe adopt the United States as their home. The challenge to accommodate and equalize ideas, social customs, languages, and beliefs brought to these shores has become more intricate. Add to that the complexities of gender roles, sexual identity, family composition, and the myriad, rapid forms through which we exchange information. Diversity appears in many forms.
Social work specializes in inspiring hope through possibility. Increasing diversity among the ranks translates into expanding possibilities for addressing the rising demand for hope that the seeker will recognize. Skilled social work practitioners from a range of backgrounds, adept at helping people, and sensitive to the importance of validating the humanity of all will ensure improvement in human services immeasurably.
To find a social worker in your area, please click here.
Tags: 2013 Black History Month Celebration, Jeanne D. Cooper, LCSW, MSW
Posted in
2013 Black History Month Celebration |
1 Comment »
Brenda Wade, MSW is a social worker and the executive director of Achievement Services, Inc., a nonprofit organization which partners with schools to design and implement extended learning opportunities in the core subjects of reading, math and science to at-risk and low-performing students in urban school settings. She is also a part-time as a high school social worker, consulting with childcare agencies on issues related to teens and children in foster care.
Tags: Articles by Brenda Wade, MSW
Posted in
Writers Landing Page |
No Comments »
By Stacy Collins, MSW, Senior Practice Associate
National Association of Social Workers
The Changing Landscape of Cancer Treatment
Most cancer treatment involves regular visits to an oncology office or hospital for intravenous, or IV, chemotherapy. But cancer treatment is changing and more and more, cancer treatment involves taking pills. Oral chemotherapy – taking pills to treat cancer – offers many benefits: fewer office visits; less time away from work and family and less interference with personal schedules. Patients welcome the absence of painful needle sticks that IV chemotherapy requires. But the advantages of oral chemotherapy are balanced – if not outweighed by – the responsibility for self-treatment of a serious disease.
Treating Cancer with Pills
When a person receives IV chemotherapy, the oncologist knows exactly how much medicine a person receives because the treatment is closely supervised by medical and nursing staff. But when treatment is done at home, the responsibility for adherence – ensuring that cancer medication is taken as prescribed – falls on individuals with cancer and their caregivers.
What Is Adherence?
Adherence means taking medications safely, timely, faithfully and accurately. It also means that:
- No doses are skipped
- No extra doses are taken
- No doses are taken in the wrong quantity, at the wrong time, or under the wrong conditions (e.g., with or without food)
Adherence is very important in cancer treatment. However, many adults have a poor track record with adherence. Recent research shows that more than 50 percent of Americans do not take prescription medicine as instructed. The numbers are even worse with cancer drugs – it's estimated that only 30 percent of people with cancer take their medication as prescribed. Non-adherence (not using medication as prescribed) is associated with more doctor visits, more hospital admissions, and longer hospital stays – all of which contribute to rising health care costs. The estimated cost to the U.S health care system of non-adherence to prescription medications is $100 billion – and rising.
Why Is Adherence to Cancer Medication So Important?
With any medication, non-adherence can have a serious impact on a person's health. But the stakes are often higher in cancer treatment. Not taking cancer medication as prescribed may mean that that drug won't work, since a certain amount of medication (referred to as a "therapeutic level") needs to be in the body in order for the drug to be effective. In many cases, cancer may return if a person takes the cancer medication occasionally, or stops taking it altogether. Non-adherence can also affect how the doctor views the patient's illness, and may result in unexpected changes to a patient's treatment.
The Challenge of Adherence
As simple as it sounds, adherence can be challenging. Many people have difficulty fitting medication-taking into a busy lifestyle, which may include work, family, and other obligations. Some people fear that cancer treatment will take away enjoyment and pleasure in life; others may feel burnout or "treatment fatigue" from long-term use of cancer medication.
Ways to Incorporate Medication-Taking Into a Busy Life
- Use weekly pill containers – These inexpensive tools allow you to organize your medications into daily doses, and are especially helpful if you are taking multiple medications or planning to travel.
- Explore electronic adherence tools – such as cell phone text reminders.
- Identify pill-taking cues – Consider taking your medication when you do other regular activities, such watching certain TV shows or brushing your teeth.
- Develop an action plan for unexpected and special events - such as weekends, vacations and celebrations.
- Ask your loved ones for help– Adherence is always easier when you have support from others.
Keep in mind – medication adherence is
difficult and everyone makes mistakes
at times. |
- Understand how your cancer drug interacts with food and other medications you are taking – A pharmacist is an excellent resource if you have questions about food and medication interactions.
- Maintain regular phone or face-to-face contact with your health care provider. Cancer medication instructions are often complex. Talk to your health care provider if you have any questions about your treatment. And remember to report side effects, as these can also affect adherence to your medication.
Special Considerations for Older Adults with Cancer
Older adults face special challenges in maintaining good adherence. Having more than one illness at the same time (often referred to as "co-morbidity") is one such challenge. For older adults, having multiple conditions (such as cancer and heart disease or diabetes) increases the number of prescription medications, which makes adherence more difficult. Older adults are also at increased risk for dementia or other cognitive problems, and may forget to take their medications or become confused about medication instructions. They may also have arthritis or other functional difficulties, which may make it challenging to open pill bottles.
Adherence decreases as the number of
daily medications increase. |
Ways to Improve Cancer Medication Adherence With Older Adults
Make sure to have clear instructions for all cancer drugs. A doctor or nurse should review the instructions in the office and also provide written instructions to take home. Be sure to ask questions if anything is unclear or confusing.
- Caregivers and loved ones should fully understand the medication instructions. Cancer medication instructions are often complicated, so it's helpful for caregivers and family members to understand the instructions as well, even if the person with cancer can take the medication without assistance.
- Have an updated, written list of medications in hand, when talking with health care professionals and caregivers.
- Ask the pharmacy to provide easy-to-open medication caps, pre-loaded medication dispensers and large print medication labels.
- Use a pharmacy that provides home delivery of medications, such as specialty pharmacies that ship overnight.
Resources
The National Transitions of Care Coalition (NTOCC) has some helpful tools to help you organize your medications. NTOCC has created My Medicine List for persons who take multiple medications or visit the doctor often, to help manage their medications and medical appointments. Visit www.ntocc.org/Portals/0/My_Medicine_List.pdf for more information.
###
Bio:
Stacy Collins, MSW, is a Senior Practice Associate at NASW, specializing in adult and pediatric health care issues. Ms. Collins has over 20 years of experience in health care advocacy, education, and direct service with national and community-based organizations. As one of the NASW staff covering oncology, Ms. Collins developed a web education course for social workers on promoting adherence in oral chemotherapy, in conjunction with the National Coalition for Cancer Survivorship. Prior to joining the NASW staff, she was the project director for a federally –funded initiative to develop community engagement strategies for large-scale cancer clinical trials. Ms. Collins holds an MSW from the Catholic University of America and a BA from the University of Virginia.
Tags: MSW, Social Work and Cancer, Stacy Collins, Taking Pills to Treat Cancer
Posted in
Cancer, Tip Sheets |
1 Comment »
Introduction
We asked several outstanding Hispanic social workers to tell us why they chose social work as their profession and what they see as challenges to serving the Hispanic community today.
Aida Rodriguez, MSW, LCSW
Mental Health Social Worker
St. Louis, Missouri
 |
|
Ms. Rodriguez and her son Zach
|
Q. What is your area of expertise?
My name is Aida Rodriguez, and I am a Cuban-born citizen of the United States. My family emigrated here in 1960, but since then I have lived not only in the United States, but also in Spain for five years, and in Uruguay for two. I have lived in Saint Louis, Missouri, since 1991.
My area of expertise as a social worker is mental health. I currently work as a medical social worker at an inner city clinic, where I also do counseling with patients. In the recent past I worked as a sex offender treatment specialist through the Missouri Sex Offender Treatment Program at Farmington Prison in Missouri, where I was hired because of their need at the time to have a Spanish-speaking therapist who could conduct group therapy in Spanish for a small contingent of incarcerated Hispanics. For two of the three years I worked extensively with English-speaking offenders, and in addition I helped to integrate a small but very diverse group of Spanish-speaking offenders into the therapeutic community environment, and led classes and therapy groups for them in Spanish. I saw significant change occur as those men learned about the many factors which led to their inappropriate behavior, and about the role of personal choice and personal responsibility in all matters. For some, it was the first time they had contemplated such ideas, or developed friendships and dared to tell their stories to anyone. All of them struggled with their demons, and with cultural notions which could only come out into the open by doing therapy in Spanish with a therapist whose native language is the same as their own.
Today, most of my clients are low-income immigrants, and most of them are undocumented but have children who are born in the States. While I do counseling with these clients as well, it is of a different nature, often directed at cultivating self-esteem, improving domestic relations, and at developing parenting skills.
Q. Why did you choose social work as your profession?
I came to social work "later" in life after being a stay-at-home mom for a number of years, and my interest initially was simply to enter the field of mental health and develop a private practice as a psychotherapist. Having experienced the psychological and emotional drama of immigration myself as a child, I had early on developed an intense desire to understand how people think, why cultures are so different, and why folks behave the way they do. Social work seemed to be a great way to scratch that itch, and turned out to lay the perfect groundwork for what I wanted to do professionally.
During my years at George Warren Brown School of Social Work at Washington University I learned that I also had a keen interest in community development studies, and in international social work as well. It was a revelation when a professor said one day that in order to do International Social Work one no longer had to travel, so great was the influx and diversity of immigrants and refugees into the United States. All my interests somehow came together and astoundingly, a path in this career has indeed been unfolding as I put my skills and interests to work. Being a bilingual Hispanic has been key thus far, and I believe it will continue to be so up ahead.
Q. What do you believe are the biggest challenges to serving our growing Hispanic population?
Dealing with the results of a history of trauma is and will be one of the greatest challenges of serving our Hispanic population. While this topic is not often addressed in an open way, it is an important underlying issue for our Hispanic populations. A great many Latin American countries that have experienced devastating political instability, terrorism, extreme poverty, family disruption, and the decay of hope over time. Those places and their bleak realities may seem far away, but the people of those countries are right here among us in the Unites States mowing our lawns and installing our roofs. They hail from El Salvador, Nicaragua, Mexico, the Dominican Republic, Honduras, Guatemala, Cuba, and Argentina, and more. Besides the anxiety and mood disorders with which much of the general public is now to some extent familiar, many of these people have a history of traumatic stress and PTSD or are strongly impacted by a loved one who suffers from these conditions. Their psychological and emotional experiences are complicated by a wide variety of practical problems, not the least of which have to do with immigration and language, as well as economic factors.
Also, as the newer influx of Hispanics see their children grow up bilingual they will struggle with the cultural gaps that immigrant families experience when the second and third generations come around. There will be great challenges for the aging population, a great many of them who are illegal immigrants, some of them quite uneducated and even illiterate, who worked hard, but were never able to save for retirement or pay into Social Security. They will become dependent on their American-citizen children for their financial support, but it is unclear whether many of these youngsters will have the educational preparation to support them here. Many of the older generation will return to their countries, and hopefully be able to retire on what money they were able to save, if any, and hopefully receive money from their children living abroad.
The separation of families due to labor immigration has impacted the cohesion of Hispanic families profoundly, and we are seeing and will continue to see the burgeoning phenomenon of the single Hispanic mother, and the need for Hispanic men to find meaning to their lives in a culture where marriage and family cohesion are not the norm. This will impact the new generation too, and hopefully it will result in children who will grasp the opportunity to become self-made individuals, taking the best that their backgrounds offer, and discarding the rest.
I believe that the social work principle of EMPOWERMENT will play a key role in our work with Hispanic individuals and those of other cultures. As social workers we should strive to reassure our clients that healing is theirs to have if only they reach for it. We must work to remind our clients that they can learn to dream again – or perhaps, learn to dream for the first time, ever.
###
To find a spanish-speaking social worker in your area please click here and select the Advanced Search function.
Tags: Aida Rodriguez, Hispanic, Hispanic heritage month, MSW, profile, social worker, social workers, spanish
Posted in
About Social Workers, Hispanic Heritage Profiles 2010 |
No Comments »
|
|
|
|
 |
 |
 |
| |
| | |
