What a year 2020 has been! When we set out in January 2020 to continue our work changing the contraceptive care landscape across the state, we didn’t anticipate a global pandemic. But through the commitment of our partners and team, we evolved our work by offering virtual programming to continue our mission while forging a new path forward. Our state was one of the first to be impacted by COVID-19 and through it all, our partners have shown steadfast dedication to providing contraceptive care as an essential service, and for that, we couldn’t be more thankful.
Virtual Training
One of the keystone pieces to our intervention was engaging, successful, in-person training events. But as healthcare evolved due to the pandemic, we adapted to a virtual version that saw understanding, confidence, and knowledge scores remain high in post-training surveys. Our team worked diligently to make sure that these events, although new for us, maintained the same engaging interactions that our partners throughout the state have come to expect.
As a midwife I am really interested in shared decision making. I loved the focus on patient-centered counseling!”
– Health Center Partner Support Staff
Virtual coaching
Elbow-to-elbow coaching of Medical Assistants plays an essential role in ensuring skills adoption after training. However, in 2020, we moved coaching to the virtual space. We now conduct Zoom coaching sessions with individual health center team members, or use a “coach the coach” approach, training a staff member at each site to help their colleagues keep developing the skills needed to provide high quality, patient-centered contraceptive care.
Upstream has positively contributed to our overall success and improvements by providing high-quality guidance, training and implementation to our team at the Wellness Center. Through Upstream’s vision and commitment to our success, we now have a contraceptive management program in place to carry us forward in providing the highest level of care for those we serve.”
Denise Walker, Chehalis Tribal Wellness Center Director
Welcoming New Partners
We are excited to welcome new partners in 2020 including:
Rainier Valley Midwives works to improve parent and infant health outcomes through midwifery-led, community-based, reproductive and pregnancy care for BIPOC families in the Greater Seattle Area.
Yakima Union Gospel Mission Medical Care Center is the largest non-profit free clinic in Washington state, and serves as a critical provider of primary care for uninsured and underinsured patients in the Yakima Valley.
Jefferson Healthcare is a critical access hospital with primary care and specialty clinics. They are an important healthcare provider for many coastal communities and have largely led the testing and care efforts for COVID-19 in their region.
Patient Education Materials
Our program continued to evolve this year with a new suite of patient education materials that better resonates with the communities our partners serve, and will be translated into multiple languages. Our partners in Washington received their materials in November and we are already beginning to see the impact they are having on the ground.
Our Project by the Numbers – Training
As we close out 2020, we want to thank our partners for serving their communities through COVID-19 and their dedication to providing best-in-class contraceptive care. We look forward to our continued collaboration in Washington and wish you and your loved ones a safe and happy holiday season.
