The story of Sophia* and her daughter Maria* exemplifies the comprehensive and thoughtful case management offered at PHWC.
People’s Health and Wellness Clinic
Barre, Vermont
The mission of the People’s Health and Wellness Clinic (PHWC) is to provide primary health care and wellness education to the uninsured and underinsured community members of central Vermont who cannot otherwise afford or access these services. The story of Sophia* and her daughter Maria* exemplifies the comprehensive and thoughtful case management offered at PHWC.
Sophia is an 86-year-old woman from the Philippines who has been a patient at PHWC in Barre for many years.
Sophia’s daughter Maria recently reached out to the clinic and asked for additional help in caring for her mother because she has developed dementia.
“Because Sophia is an undocumented citizen, she cannot receive benefits. Our goal is to document her disability and connect her with immigration resources so that Sophia can receive Medicaid benefits and therefore be eligible for other community assistance.”
PHWC Executive Director Rebecca Goldfinger-Fein
PHWC continues to manage Sophia’s regular health care and, working with volunteer specialists at the clinic, has also begun to evaluate the elderly Filipina woman’s encroaching dementia. Simultaneously, the clinic’s nurse case manager has connected Maria with immigration law specialists at Vermont Law School’s South Royalton Legal Clinic, where work is now under way to assist Sophia with the process of becoming an American citizen.
The PHWC care team’s work with Sophia and Maria sheds a bright light on a key humanitarian objective of the clinic: ensuring a broad range of consistent, dependable health care and preventive health education for all central Vermonters.
*Patient names have been changed to respect privacy, protect identity, and assure confidentiality.