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| Whether it's helping a patient cope
with a terminal diagnosis, locating affordable outpatient housing or securing third-party
funding, social workers continue to find win-win solutions in an environment of increasing
cost constraints on themselves, patients and providers. This month Fact File talks with
Elizabeth Polek, director of social work and case management, and veteran social workers
Trilla Barr and Annemarie C. Heideck.
1. Department of Social Work and Case Management assigns 21
social workers, all with master's degrees in social work, to 2. Weekend and evening coverage is provided by a social worker assigned to the Emergency Department. Social work services are available in the ED from 12 noon to 8 p.m., Monday through Friday, and 8 a.m. to midnight on weekends. An on-call social worker provides 24-hour coverage. 3. In addition to social workers, the department includes 14 case managers, 1.5 support staff, a housing coordinator and four support liaisons. 4. Services provided by social workers include psychosocial assessment, crisis intervention and supportive services for referred patients, families and staff. Working with multidisciplinary teams (including case managers and physicians), social workers develop and implement discharge/ community linkage plans. The social workers provide information counseling related to psychosocial issues; assess, intervene and report domestic violence, abuse and related matters in accordance with the law; facilitate conservatorships, discuss durable power of attorney and related matters; and make community resource referrals. A key service provided by social workers is conducting patient and family groups. Social workers also serve as consultants and educators for fellow team members. 5. Elizabeth Polek became director of social work and case
management in April 1998 after three years in a similar position at Sequoia Hospital in
Redwood City. She previously had served as both a clinical social worker and case manager
at the Redwood City hospital. From 1991 to 1992, Polek worked at Stanford University
Hospital as a clinical social worker. Before that, she held several professional positions
with 6. Trilla Barr has served as a licensed clinical social worker in the area of hematology and bone marrow transplantation for 23 years. Since 1987, she has worked with the Bone Marrow Transplant Service at Stanford, with additional duties in the Emergency Department. Before coming to Stanford she worked for 11 years as a social worker specialist with the hematology and bone marrow Transplant Units at City of Hope Medical Center, Duarte. She has served as a consultant and teacher for a variety of institutions, including the University of Southern California School of Medicine. Barr received her master's of social work degree from San Diego State University in 1967. 7. Annemarie Heideck currently serves as the social worker in the inpatient cancer unit (F-ground) and in the outpatient hematology/oncology unit. She came to Stanford in 1992 from Children's Hospital of San Francisco, part of California Pacific Medical Center, where she served for four years as assistant director of social work, and the previous six years as a social worker for adult oncology and AIDS patients. She also served as a field supervisor for social work students from the University of California, Berkeley, and San Francisco State University. Before moving to California in 1986, Heideck was director of social work at Nemours Children's Hospital in Jacksonville, Fla., where she provided direct services for chronic and terminally ill children. She received her master's of social work in 1981 and a master's of public health a year later from Tulane University. 8. The Department of Social Work and Case Management, including director Elizabeth Polek, can be reached at 723-5091. Any physician, staff member, patient or family member may refer a case to a social worker. Go to |
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