They act as advocates, educators, caregivers and cheerleaders for West Baltimore?s chronically ill and underserved, but Enable-MD?s community health workers could soon find themselves unemployed.
The program is in danger of being shut down May 1 if it does not receive funding, said Dr. Donald Fedder, director of the group.
Enable-MD will appear before the Baltimore City Council in April to request $100,000 to help keep them afloat through Sept. 30. The group then hopes to become part of the city?s annual budget, Fedder said.
The program trains people from areas burdened with uninsured and underinsured individuals and sends them into the communities and into their chronically ill neighbors? homes to help them get insured, go to the doctor?s office, fill prescriptions and maintain their health.
“A lot of people are not informed or educated,” said Linda Reynolds, a community health worker.
“These are people from the community, so what better people to help people in the community? They know what?s out there; they know the resources,” said Paulette Williams, community health worker coordinator.
Many of the roughly 300 patients served come from referrals from the emergency departments at hospitals, which many use as their primary method of care, Fedder said.
The program is based in the University of Maryland School of Pharmacy, where Fedder teaches, but is not funded by the school.
Enable-MD has received a combination of state and private funding since its inception in 1991, but Fedder said there is no sustained funding, causing the group to start over every year.
