Collaborating for a healthier Oregon.

Every time we get a referral in Unite Us and are able to connect people who need nutritional support with meals is a success. Early on, we got a referral from Kaiser Permanente for a patient discharged from the hospital with COVID-19. Her husband, who also contracted COVID-19, died unexpectedly. When we delivered her meals, we called to tell her they were on her porch and checked in weekly. Once she was able to get back to cooking for herself, she told us she felt like it saved her life to have people checking in on her on a regular basis. This is the miracle of service. To serve our community best, we need partners like Unite Us to show us the people in need.

Providing access to supportive services, so everyone in our communities is empowered to reach their full potential, is the basis of what we do. Having a network like Unite Us enables us to do that better, faster, and in a trauma-informed way. Community-based organizations serve as the backbone and access point for so many folks, and to give CBOs the seamless ability to get their youth or adults what they need to thrive is invaluable. Through Unite Us, anyone can walk into the CBO they trust and that CBO is now able to get them the resources they need, whether they provide it themselves or not.

A Smile for Kids funds orthodontic treatment for underserved children in Oregon. We often uncover additional challenges that families struggle with, ranging from food insecurity, lack of secure housing, employment, behavioral health support, transportation, etc. The Unite Us platform is perfect because although we cover all 36 counties statewide, we couldn’t possibly know what additional services are available in each location. When we make a referral, we can see if other partners meet an obstacle and then try to resolve it. Together, we’re able to locate resources for the families we serve in those difficult situations – much beyond what we could ever have done on our own.

A family all tested positive for COVID-19 while their father was on a long-haul truck job. He was unable to return home because he was the sole provider for the family and they could not risk exposing him to COVID-19. We were able to refer this family for wrap-around support through Unite Us, and we were also able to temporarily house the father in a free shelter with food provided until the family was through their isolation period.

A client of ours recently shared, ‘The teamwork that comes through with all of this is amazing. My world got flipped upside down. I found out my 3-year-old daughter and I had COVID within 24 hours. On top of being 23 weeks pregnant and the sole provider for us, I lost it. And then everyone called and offered help that made it to where I can just be here resting with little worries. It seriously felt too good to be true.

Unite Us has answered some of our biggest needs internally as an organization. We needed to move away from paper files– it’s allowed us to create digital files for our clients in a safe and secure environment. It is immensely valuable to have a case management and referral system all in one, allowing us to meet the needs of our clients more efficiently and effectively. It also has made it so much easier to find organizations to which we can refer clients. Nobody succeeds alone. Connecting with other organizations helps us and our clients address the needs and issues in our community.

Unite Us has been incredibly successful in creating connections between our peer support specialists and our community members in need of support. They have given Oregon Recovery Network an opportunity to create a bigger impact of the resources available to those in recovery across the state, especially in rural areas. Unite Us has given us a platform to share our mission with other providers, of which we hope share similar beliefs regarding addiction recovery.

We implemented Unite Us in early 2021, and as the network in Lane County grows, we have seen an increase in the number of people we are able to connect to food resources through the platform. Since we added the Unite Us plug-in to our “Get Help” webpage, we have more than tripled the amount of referrals through the platform! This tool has helped us understand and better track community needs, and ensure that people are not falling through the cracks.

Unite Us has helped show how integrated our clinic is within the community. We recognize one specialty of healthcare isn’t enough, so we need to partner with organizations like Unite Us to help patients navigate the system. We wholeheartedly believe the value of Unite Us lies within bringing various specialties together to focus on the care needed for the patient in front of them. It is a transformational shift in healthcare that has been long overdue.

nite Us’ person-centered approach to supporting individuals aligns perfectly with our mission by centering support based on people’s needs. This partnership allows us to connect with families more proactively, rather than being connected to us because they are in crisis. The platform makes it easy to collaborate with partners and discover local resources.