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Health Advocates: Mitigating Social Barriers To Health In A Medical Center, Brenda Ascencio

Master's Projects and Capstones

Santa Clara Valley Medical is one of the busiest emergency departments in California. Patients are coming into the Emergency Department (ED) with needs that could have been prevented if they would have had access or knowledge about preventative measures such as the importance of having health insurance or seeing a primary care physician. In order to decrease the use of ED services for non-medical needs the launching of the Health Advocates Program will help address social determinants of health to an underserved community, including access to safe and affordable housing, food, health services, job training, legal aid and more. The …