While medical care is provided across hospital hallways — the focus of similar nationwide initiatives — much of health care continues into the streets of communities , where the Collaborative extends its reach , Ryczek adds .
The Collaborative hopes to appoint faculty to federally qualified health centers in Rhode Island to implement interprofessional practice and intends to bring in aspiring community health workers , who would provide a bridge between patients and clinicians . This line of communication is important to explain health care to patients and improve access to care .
People who are struggling financially , for example , may come home from a doctor ’ s appointment with pages of instructions along with their diagnosis , but they ’ re already preoccupied with other concerns , such as paying for food and rent . Remembering to adhere to their health regimen can easily fall to the wayside , Ryczek says .
Community health workers and social workers step in to help by periodically visiting patients at home to assist with medical and other needs . The Collaborative wants medical students to join these visits . The group is also seeking funding for research that would demonstrate whether interprofessional care improves patient outcomes — which could in turn help fund future programming .
The health “ system can learn a lot from what ’ s happening in the community ,” Ryczek says , “ because that ’ s where health lives .”
For more information , visit www . riciep . org .
BOOKSHELF
NEW BOOKS OFFER MENTAL HEALTH HELP
Mood Prep 101 : A Parent ’ s Guide to Preventing Depression and Anxiety in College-Bound Teens BY CAROL LANDAU , PHD
Long before COVID-19 , the US was dealing with an unaddressed public health crisis : an epidemic of adolescent psychiatric problems .
A clinical psychologist who has been treating high school and college students for more than 30 years , Landau wrote Mood Prep 101 to help families head off the depression and anxiety she saw so often in her practice .
Landau , a clinical professor of psychiatry and human behavior and of medicine at The Warren Alpert Medical School , says while there ’ s no “ formula ” to preventing depression and anxiety —“ it ’ s not like adding fluoride to the water ”— families can identify it early , and the book helps them do that . “ I also hope that parents will learn more about adolescent development and the needs of teens who feel ‘ different ,’ including those who are LGBTQIA or from other minority groups ,” she says .
The book ’ s goal is for adults to learn and then teach the kids in their lives the problem-solving and self-efficacy skills they will need in college while also learning to identify when expert help might be needed . “ If a child is more irritable than normal , hasn ’ t been sleeping , is tearful for more than two weeks ,” Landau says , “ get an assessment . Call your primary care physician . Early intervention is never a bad thing .”
Unwinding Anxiety : New Science Shows How to Break the Cycles of Worry and Fear to Heal Your Mind BY JUDSON BREWER , MD , PHD
Half or more of Americans report feelings of anxiety about their health , safety , finances , politics , and relationships . But anxiety , Brewer avers , is a habit , like smoking or binge eating — and as such it can , with mindfulness , be mastered .
The director of research and innovation at Brown ’ s Mindfulness Center and an associate professor of behavioral and social sciences and of psychiatry and human behavior , Brewer distills his and others ’ neuroscience research into lively , digestible prose so any reader may understand where anxious thoughts come from , and how to deal with them . Unwinding Anxiety leads readers through practical exercises to encourage us to get curious about — and be kind to — ourselves . As with any unhealthy habit , Brewer reminds us , anxiety can only be unwound “ one day at a time .” HD
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