Rockford, Illinois (WIFR) – In the coming months, the Rockford region will see a new carpooling service for mental health care.
It comes shortly after Region planning board 1 published a study on health and transport in the region.
The study Dove more deeply in the impact that the transport system of our region has on community health. R1 says that up to a third of regional mental health care providers, report that patients who do not receive necessary services are an important obstacle in the region, which they plan to change.
“One of the things we have learned is that, even if we have a lot of major mental health resources in this community, people always find it difficult to go to all their mental health appointments,” said Jason Holcomb, Director of the Community Impact at R1.
To fill this gap, R1 joins forces with Winnebago County Community Mental Health Board to explore and implement carpooling programs for mental health services.
“This will provide door carriers or sidewalk to slow down transport to mental health meetings,” said Holcomb.
R1 learned more through the MCHENRY County Health Board. They will use Kaizen HealthA third-party carpooling service specializing in taking it patients with their appointments for this initiative.
“When we examined best practices, we examined what other mental health advice near us also use and obtained their testimonies in terms of the success of these programs,” said Holcomb.
R1 provides that the service will be deployed in the weeks to following months. Nor will it have a fees for the customer or health care provider.
“We worked with members of the Rockford Régional Health Council and around 60% of the answers we have obtained on a communication form on their part indicated that their customers have a high level of need for transportation services,” said Nathan Larsen, R1 Planning Planning Planning. “So, it’s certainly something that will have an impact.”
There will be a web portal that clinicians will be used to plan meetings. Certain local organizations funded by the mental health sales tax will also be trained to use it. The additional R1 transport will be provided by clinicians to ensure that customers can reach their appointments and on time.
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