VIDEO: WBUR's Radio Boston discusses PIH's PACT program

From Haiti to Boston, community health workers (CHWs) are playing an increasingly important role in international and local health systems. As health care in the US continues to evolve in the coming years, it’s very likely that CHWs will assist more and more patients. This will be the topic of WBUR’s Radio Boston program on Tuesday, March 29.

Host Anthony Brooks will talk with WBUR reporter Rachel Zimmerman, who recently filed a story about the CHWs working with PIH’s Boston-based program, the Prevention and Access to Care and Treatment project (PACT).

Zimmerman’s piece, From Haiti To Harvard: Crucial Foot Soldiers Of Health Make Housecalls, follows Fernanda Pereira, a native of Brazil, and her asthmatic son, Ycaro, as they attempt—and in many ways fail—to navigate the US health care system. That is until they are assisted by a community health worker from PACT.

PACT's CHWs help patients live healthier lives, while simultaneously cutting costs for health care providers. Speaking of the recent attention the project has received, PACT Executive Director Heidi Behforouz says, "We're thrilled our CHWs are finally getting the recognition they deserve for working every day to help their patients realize better health outcomes and more empowered lives."

Excerpted from Haiti to Harvard: Crucial Foot Soldiers Of Health Make Housecalls

Fernanda Pereira, a native of Brazil, had some basic misunderstandings about the U.S. health care system. Here are two:

1. She used to take her asthmatic son, Ycaro, to the emergency room every time he needed a refill for his inhaler. She didn’t know she could simply call the doctor for a prescription and pick it up at the pharmacy.

2. She was confused and anxious when Ycaro, 11, was diagnosed with childhood depression. “Here, it’s normal for kids to be in therapy; in Brazil it’s not normal, ” Fernanda said. So, she cancelled or skipped 10 pediatric therapy appointments.

Enter Erica Guimaraes, a community health worker, and part of an ambitious program here to provide better, more effective care to poor, chronically ill patients—some who cost more than $200,000 a year to treat.

Since October, Erica has visited the Pereira’s home at least twice a month to help them deal with their medical problems, mental health struggles, cultural challenges, and anything else that comes up. On a recent visit to the family’s tidy brick apartment above a pizza place in Medford, Erica taught Ycaro how to properly use his inhaler. She explained to his mom, once again, the difference between Flovent and Albuterol. And she set up in-home therapy sessions for Ycaro. The boy has not been to the ER since Erica started visiting. “This winter, with Erica, it’s better,” Fernanda says.

Read Zimmerman’s piece in its entirety.