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What Is Your Job Title?
Backgrounds can vary, but I am a Social Worker, and my job title is Assessor/Coordinator.
What Does an Assessor Coordinator Do?
The group of health care professionals classified as Assessor Coordinators work in a variety of settings in health regions across the Province. The focus of their work is around assessment of a client’s needs and referral to appropriate resources.
Assessor Coordinators help clients and families better understand, identify, and access community based health care services and assist them through the process.
Our job is to gather information from clients, their family and/or other caregivers, and other Health Care Professionals involved with that client in order to identify needs and make referrals to appropriate resources in the community. These resources may include Home Care services such as assistance with personal care or nursing, palliative care, community day programs, addiction and mental health services, respite care, occupational or physical therapy, community social work, or housing/care options including long term care.
What Training Is Necessary To Do Your Work?
The credentials can vary depending on the type of work being done, but typically Assessor Coordinators hold a Bachelor’s Degree in Social Work, Nursing, Psychology, Physical Therapy, or Occupational Therapy.
Where Do You Work?
We work in a variety of settings – on hospital wards, in emergency departments, and in the community (rural and urban). The majority of Assessor Coordinators work in the areas of community based support services (for example, assessment for home care and community based therapy services), acute care.
Who Need Your Services and Why?
A broad range of people use our services – seniors who are beginning to have difficulty managing safely in their own home (eg. getting in and out of the bathtub); children or adults with physical challenges who require referrals for specialized equipment; patients who are being discharged from hospital after a planned or emergency stay; families who are considering a move for a senior family member into more supportive housing; or people of all ages needing access to mental health services.
What Is Your Favourite Part of Your Job?
My favourite part of the job is assisting family and caregivers in continuing to look after their loved one in their own home for as long as possible.
What Challenges Do You Have in Your Job?
The challenge of this work is to balance heavy workloads and limited resources while continuing to strive to provide assessment of needs and access to resources in a timely manner.
What Are the Consequences When There Are Not Enough People with Your Training to Provide Service?
The consequences are that people are left on their own to sort their way through (navigate) the health care system, figure out what resources they might need and how to access those resources. This is not optimal.