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NewYork-Presbyterian recently celebrated the launch and expansion of the Pilar Crespi Robert and Stephen Robert Center for Community Health Navigation at three of its campuses: NewYork-Presbyterian Lower Manhattan Hospital, NewYork-Presbyterian Brooklyn Methodist Hospital, and NewYork-Presbyterian Queens.

"Source of Hope's mission is to bring equal opportunity for healthy, productive lives to the most vulnerable people,” said Pilar Crespi Robert and Stephen Robert, co-founders of the Source of Hope Foundation, whose generosity enabled the launch and expansion of the health navigation program. “We are so happy to partner with NewYork-Presbyterian on this extraordinary effort and were so pleased to meet the people who are doing this incredible work."

The Robert Center for Community Health Navigation, a part of NewYork-Presbyterian’s Ambulatory Care Network (ACN), utilizes patient navigators to improve the health and well-being of patients through the delivery of culturally sensitive, peer-based support in the emergency department and in inpatient, outpatient, and community settings. The program supports and empowers vulnerable families by helping them receive appropriate, continuous care and access services that address social barriers to care, such as food insecurity, domestic violence, immigration challenges, and substandard housing.

The Robert Center is an expansion of two important health navigation programs that have supported, educated, and empowered hundreds of thousands of low-income, underserved, and non-English speaking patients since 2005 by helping them navigate the NewYork-Presbyterian healthcare system and connecting them with primary and specialty care providers within their communities.

“The Pilar Crespi Robert and Stephen Robert Center for Community Health Navigation plays a pivotal role in helping our patients navigate the healthcare system and ensuring families have access to vital services. We are very excited to be able to regionalize this proven model as this expansion will improve the health and well-being of our patients and families in all of the communities we serve,” said Paul Dunphey, senior vice president and chief operating officer of NewYork-Presbyterian Allen Hospital & the Ambulatory and Community Care Network.

At each of the campuses, the Pilar Crespi Robert and Stephen Robert Center for Community Health Navigation is tailored to the individual needs of the community.

For example, at NewYork-Presbyterian Brooklyn Methodist Hospital, the most common health concerns of patients who come to the emergency department are diabetes and congestive heart failure for adults and asthma for children. These conditions can be prevented and/or managed with proper interventions, but they frequently worsen because of the barriers to care faced by patients. With the creation of the Robert Center, the Hospital formed the Patient Navigator Committee and the Community Health Workers Committee to customize program models to better suit local neighborhoods, identify target populations and key languages, determine key community collaborators, and work with clinical and operational champions throughout the Hospital. The team consists of six multilingual Patient Navigators who collectively speak Spanish, French Creole, and Russian. Since its launch on February 4, 2019 through April 26, the Patient Navigators have already supported 996 patients.

At NewYork-Presbyterian Queens, obstructive pulmonary disease, hypertension, and congestive heart failure are the most common ailments that send patients to the emergency department. While all of these conditions can be managed more effectively on a nonemergency basis, the recent closure of six local hospitals has led to a surge in volume, and the Robert Center is critical in ensuring all patients receive the highest-quality care and support. Similar to NewYork-Presbyterian Brooklyn Methodist, the Robert Center at NewYork-Presbyterian Queens has convened Patient Navigator and Community Health Workers Committees.

NewYork-Presbyterian Lower Manhattan Hospital is the only full-service, acute care, and emergency facility south of 14th Street. The Hospital sees a substantial volume of patients and serves a large Asian American population. Additional staffing allows for increased hours of service, including longer weekend coverage and more robust discharge navigation services. A new Community Health Worker initiative was developed and integrated within inpatient, outpatient, and community services to improve the health of adult patients. Two additional Patient Navigators were recruited to expand the navigation program, both of whom currently work at Henry Street Settlement, a community partner organization.

About NewYork-Presbyterian

NewYork-Presbyterian is one of the nation’s most comprehensive, integrated academic healthcare delivery systems, whose organizations are dedicated to providing the highest quality, most compassionate care and service to patients in the New York metropolitan area, nationally, and throughout the globe. In collaboration with two renowned medical schools, Weill Cornell Medicine and Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons, NewYork-Presbyterian is consistently recognized as a leader in medical education, groundbreaking research and innovative, patient-centered clinical care.

NewYork-Presbyterian has four major divisions:

• NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital is ranked #1 in the New York metropolitan area by U.S. News and World Report and repeatedly named to the Honor Roll of “America’s Best Hospitals.”
• NewYork-Presbyterian Regional Hospital Network comprises hospitals and other facilities in the New York metropolitan region.
• NewYork-Presbyterian Physician Services, which connects medical experts with patients in their communities.
• NewYork-Presbyterian Community and Population Health, encompassing ambulatory care network sites and community healthcare initiatives, including NewYork Quality Care, the Accountable Care Organization jointly established by NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital, Weill Cornell Medicine and Columbia.

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