-: One of the things I love about working
as a Perinatal Social Worker is being able
to be a change agent and working to bring
some type of positivity into our individual's life,
whether it's a pregnant woman, their family,
or if it's just a mom who are receiving OB/GYN service.
Being able to share with them that this is not all
about life and this is what's going on as it relates
to your health, your baby's health, these are statistics,
new ways to practice mothering,
liking to different resources that moms
may not be aware of, as well as linking them
to community resources that they may not be aware of.
So basically just being that change agent
and that positivity in their life,
even if it's just for a moment.
So one of the main things that I view as a challenge
to my job is not being able to assist
each and every patient.
Some of the reasons for that
is due to transportation barriers.
Not all patients attend their appointments.
Some of those things are funding issues.
You learn about a resource, you tell a patient,
inform them, you call, make the call to refer them
and find out that funding is no longer available
for their particular service.
I work with four or five doctors
and some days I may have four or five patients
scheduled at the same time.
So depending upon what that one particular patient need,
another patient may leave, I may not get ahold of them
that particular day, so I have to work harder the next time
at their appointment to catch them.
So, definitely scheduling conflicts is a challenge
as it relates to them.