Mount vernon neighborhood health center behavioral health centers for homebound elderly and disabled - mount vernon neighborhood health center is a legacy federally qualified health center (FQHC)…

Mount vernon neighborhood health center behavioral health centers for homebound elderly and disabled - mount vernon neighborhood health center is a legacy federally qualified health center (FQHC) which has provided quality, affordable health care to vulnerable populations for close to 50 years. Mvnhc's behavioral health services for homebound elderly and disabled will provide behavioral health assessments and psychotherapy to mvnhc's homebound elderly and disabled residents living in NY-16. The program will promote the prevention or treatment of mental health disorders, including rehabilitation, outreach, and other support services. Initial home visits will involve a 60-minute assessment, during which the lcsw will be able to evaluate each patient's living conditions and administer standard tests for anxiety and depression. Patients determined to be living with anxiety or depression will be offered weekly 45-minute therapy sessions which will be conducted by the lcsw. The major goal of the program is to improve access to behavioral health services for homebound elderly and disabled men and women who are registered as mvnhc patients and who reside in NY-16. Objectives include identification of patients at-risk for behavioral health problems; assessment of those patients for anxiety and depression; and engagement in weekly therapy. The outbreak of the covid-19 pandemic has highlighted disparities in health care which primarily affect black and hispanic people living in low-income households. These disparities are catalyzed by social determinants of health (SDOH), defined as "conditions in the environments in which people are born, live, learn, work, play, worship, and age that affect a wide range of health, functioning, and quality-of-life outcomes and risks". Since the earliest day of the pandemic, mvnhc has seized the opportunity to address SDOH which affect our patients. That has led US to take community health care out of the health center and into the settings where people live and congregate every day. With nearly 70,000 residents, MT. Vernon is the 8TH most populous city in new york state. Of the total population, 63.4% are black or african-american, 14.3% of the city's total population are of hispanic origin, 24.3% are white, 3.7% are two or more races; while 1.8% are asian, american indian and alaska native, native hawaiian, and other pacific islander. Other races combined comprise 6.8% of the total population. The poverty rate in mount vernon (16%) is 6% higher than the national average; the unemployment rate in mount vernon (7.2%) is 55% higher than the national average. Fewer than one-third of adults living in mount vernon have earned a bachelor's degree, and 30% of students enrolled in mount vernon's public high schools graduate "on-time" (within four years), with a diploma. A breakout of our patients by race/ethnicity reflects a population that is 51% african-american, 11% caucasian, 14% hispanic/latino, 1% asian and 23% other. More than 16% are people best served in a language other than english. 38% of our patients are over 65. 23% are uninsured, 66% rely on publicly-funded insurance (i.e. medicaid and medicare), and 11% benefit from commercial insurance. Access to affordable, high-quality behavioral health services is a challenge under the best of circumstances. For homebound elderly and disabled black and hispanic adults living in low-income households in NY-16, this challenge often becomes an insurmountable obstacle. Mvnhc's behavioral health services for homebound patients will help them to overcome that obstacle and will become a model for community-based behavioral health care across the nation. Mvnhc's behavioral health services for homebound patients addresses behavioral health problems among elderly and disabled, compassionately and cost-efficiently. Mvnhc's program will bring scarce health care services to the doorstep of those who need them most. IT will improve the quality of life for our most VUL