Southern Tier Health Care System is partnering with the Community Service Society of New York (CSS) through their “Reaching the 5%” uninsured outreach program. CSS runs several statewide programs that help consumers find and enroll in health coverage under the Affordable Care Act. The CSS Navigator Network enrolls approximately 50,000 New Yorkers into coverage annually with a partnership of 18 community-based organizations (CBOs). 

 

Through this partnership, STHCS will work to outreach to 20,000 individuals in order to reach the remaining eligible but uninsured New Yorkers in Allegany, Cattaraugus, and Chautauqua counties. We look forward to working on this program over the coming several months and for this new partnership between STHCS and CSS. 

 

If you know of an individual in need of health insurance, please reach out to one of our navigators at https://www.sthcs.org/health-insurance.  

Due to generous funding provided by The John R. Oishei Foundation, over the past several months, Southern Tier Health Care System has been providing Mental Health First Aid (MHFA) training to healthcare workers in Allegany, Cattaraugus, and Chautauqua counties. This training was open to EMS providers in all three counties, and we are glad to see so many individuals took advantage of this training opportunity, including several members of the St. Bonaventure University Medical Emergency Response Team (MERT).  

 

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the course was modified by MHFA to teach this course virtually. Mental Health First Aid is a skills-based training course that teaches participants how to recognize the warning signs of mental health or substance use challenges, and the best steps to take toward assisting a loved one, friend or co-worker in crisis. 

 

This training is critical for EMS providers as they may encounter a variety of mental health calls and we are thankful to the foundation for enabling us to provide this training to so many providers.