Social Services Department

The Social Service department maintains a philosophy which incorporates the mission and basic value statements of the hospital which incorporates the mission and basic value statements of the hospital and principles stated in the Code of Ethics of the National Association of Social Workers.  All services are provided without regard to race, religion, ethnicity, sex, age sexual orientation, socio-economic status or nature of the illness or injury.

1. To patient and their families
1. To assist the patient and his or her family to recognize economic and social problems which illness and hospitalization may precipitate.
2. To help the patient and his or her family to cope with the illness and/or residual disability.
2. To the hospital:
1. To enable the HealthCare Team recognize and achieve a clearer understanding of the patient’s emotional and behavioral problems.
2. To assist the Health Care Team develop and improve his or her own capabilities in coping with patient’s emotional and behavioral problem.
3. To the community:
1. To help facilitate optimum utilization of medical care through interpretation of services interpretation of services in the various community resources.
2. To participate in appropriate education, training and orientation programs as will as community development projects.
3. To identify unmet community needs and encourage the development of new resources.
4. To stimulate studies which will contribute toward improved patient care and health programs in the community.

Services provided will include the following:

• Psychosocial assessments for patients referred to social service staff.
• Discharge planning for high-risk patients with identified discharge planning needs.
• Crisis intervention for patients and families.
• Participation in multidisciplinary treatment planning rounds.
• Provide community resource referral services for patients, patient’s family, medical and hospital staff and for members of the community.
• Assessing inpatient needs and eligibility for Medicare and MediCal benefits programs and facilitating the application for such programs.
• Patient rights advocacy, including investigating and reporting cases of suspected abuse and/or neglect to appropriate legal authorities pursuing legal protection for incompetent patients and participation on the Ethics Committee.
• On-call availability 24 hours a day, 7 days a week for specified social service intervention needs.