HJNO Sep/Oct 2019

46 SEP / OCT 2019 I  Healthcare Journal of new orleans “Jasmine rescued me. Without her, I re- ally don’t know where I’d be today,”Terthia said. “When you’re in that shape, it’s hard to believe anything will get better. But with her help, things got a whole lot better.” For Harkless-Thomas, however, helping column INSURANCE SDOH Center of Excellence: A New Model of Coordinated Care Just like that, Terthia joined the ranks of Louisiana’s homeless population. “I’ve worked my whole life. I always had mon- ey—not a lot, but enough. I couldn’t believe I was one of the people on the streets,” she said. For months, she slept in her car in parking lots and beneath bridges. She was sometimes forced to move along by security guards, and she was often fright- ened away from favored parking places by homeless men. After nearly a year of living in her car, a social worker with her Healthy Louisiana Medicaid health plan heard Ter- thia was in need of help and reached out. And when Jasmine Harkless-Thomas, a Louisiana Healthcare Connections Li- censed Clinical Social Worker, discovered Terthia’s living situation, she began coor- dinating local resources to help her find safe housing. Within an hour of their initial meeting, Harkless-Thomas established that Terthia qualified for low-income housing, located an apartment vacancy, and helped her ap- ply. Three weeks later, Terthia moved out of her car and into a safe apartment. When an intensive surgery to repair an infected metal plate in her arm left New Orleans resident Terthia Joyner without a home or a job, she wasn’t sure where to turn. With no family nearby and no income, Terthia had no choice but to put her possessions in a stor- age unit and move into her 2001 Buick LeSabre. people like Terthia is simply her job. “We all have the opportunity tomake an impact by reducing stigmas, having those hard discussions and building relationships with our members,” she said. “Our team was built on the idea that improving health In 2018, Terthia Joyner became homeless and jobless. She lived for a year in in her 2001 Buick.