Department of Health

Services:

Resource and Referral

Linkages to local, county, and state health resources

Family Spirit Program

In-home visiting program for parents of prenatal to 3 year-olds

Car Seat Tech Support

Health Literacy

End of Life Support

Advanced Directives support

Community Readiness

Tool to assess community readiness, focused on the community, by the community

Introduction

The practice of health services in the Community Health Representative (CHR) Program is to provide common guidance to aid individuals, families, and communities, in achieving an optimal state of well-being, in any setting or stage in the human life cycle, by providing a common practice base, which serves as minimum guidance for the provision of health services, as part of a health care team.

Philosophy

P.L. 100-713 establishes the CHR Program as a component of health care services of American Indian people. It is an Indian Health Service (IHS) funded, tribally contracted/granted and directed program of well-trained, community-based, health care providers, designed to integrate the unique helping of tribal life with the practices of health promotion and disease prevention.

Service Population and Scope of Services:

All Native American people living in the Ho-Chunk Nation (HCN) service delivery area will be eligible to receive the services offered by the HCN Community Health Representative (CHR) Program as long as they provide documentation that they are enrolled members of a federally recognized tribe or provide proof of descendancy.

The Contract Health Service Delivery Areas (CHSDA) and Service Delivery Areas (SDA) counties for the Ho-Chunk Nation as defined in the Federal Register within the funded scope of this Indian Health Service (IHS) program are as follows:

Tribe/Reservation: Ho-Chunk Nation of Wisconsin (WI) Counties:

Adams, Clark, Columbia, Crawford, Dane, Eau Claire, Jackson, Juneau, LaCrosse, Marathon, Monroe, Sauk, Shawano, Vernon, Wood and also includes Houston County in Minnesota.

Major Program Services:

1. Home visits to assess/monitor client’s health status

2. Provides transportation for client to access health care

3. Takes BPs/BSs, referrals, health screenings, follow-ups

4. Assists, plans, coordinates community mobilization events

5. Provides health education to programs/communities

6. Provides 3 WIC clinics for eligible participants

7. Provides carseat safety education/distributes carseats

8. Care coordination with appropriate health care provider(s)

Transportation Services:

The CHR is to encourage and promote community members to use existing community resources. When an individual’s transportation need cannot be met with existing resources, it is the role of the Community Health Representative (CHR) to advocate for alternative services.

Transportation Policy:

1. Persons must notify CHR 72 hours in advance for needed transportation and have no other means of getting to appointments.

2. All tribal and alternative transportation agencies/programs must have been contacted and utilized before requesting transportation services from the CHR Program.

3. Transportation will be provided for medical appointments only (no shopping or errands).

4. Transportation to health facilities outside the 15 county IHS service areas will not be provided.

5. No one under the age of 12 with appointment will be transported without the parent or legal guardian present.

6. Car seats must be used by infants and children up to age 4 and this is the parent’s responsibility to provide these.

7. Seat belts must be worn at all times by all person(s) in vehicle.

8. CHR will not provide transportation in adverse weather conditions.

9. CHR will not be responsible for transport if person(s) is not at specific place and time of pick-up.

10. Only the person with the appointment will be transported. (See #5 above exception)

11. No intoxicated person or person(s) smelling of alcohol will be transported.

12. No person who is incarcerated (jailed) OR under “house arrest” is eligible for transportation services.

13. Whenever workshops, training, WIC clinics, and staff meetings are scheduled for CHR, no transportation services will be provided at that time.