Jeri Goodman, Social Work Clinical Manager, VNSNY Clinical Operations Support

‘It’s really important to me to be available any time a social worker needs to talk through a tough case, needs help identifying appropriate resources or interventions, or just needs support.”

With a primary responsibility of supporting VNSNY Home Care social work services, Jeri spends much of her day coordinating with and providing clinical consultation to social workers as well as managers and other field staff, helping them address the complex social needs of VNSNY Home Care patients..

“I’m committed to fostering an understanding of how social work intervention can help improve patient health outcomes,” Jeri says. “It’s really important to me to be available any time a social worker needs to talk through a tough case, needs help identifying appropriate resources or interventions, or just needs support. Our social workers are highly skilled and experienced, but they’re out there in the field alone every day, and it helps to have discipline-specific clinical support.”

The arrival of the COVID-19 pandemic, she notes, “really highlighted the importance of social work services. While our patient census declined and we had to furlough some of our social workers, the acuity level of our patients in terms of psychosocial needs went way up. We had vulnerable patients who were very isolated and disconnected from their regular support systems.” These forces created “a perfect storm,” adds Jeri. “It was a very challenging landscape to navigate, and continues to be in many ways—but social workers are very resourceful and agile when it comes to addressing people’s needs.”

By reaching across VNSNY and staying in close and regular communication and coordination with its different divisions, Jeri has helped the organization make the most of all available resources. “As a social worker for 30 years, I’ve been out in the field providing direct services as well in administrative roles, and I’ve also been a caregiver for both of my parents,” she says. “So I’m always seeing things through all three of those lenses. It’s very important for me to do that, and I feel that it keeps the work honest.”