This article first appeared in the St. Louis Beacon, June 25, 2012 - Kimberly Clark rode the wave of the Great Recession three years ago, not knowing where she'd land. Hers was a roller-coaster trip that included losing her job, house and health benefits, fighting cancer along the way, struggling to find money for her prescription drugs and coping with divorce.
"The sky was falling, but I had my faith and I knew God was taking me through," she says.
In the midst of the unfolding chaos, Clark also got a little assistance from another source. Someone asked if she'd had called 2-1-1 This free 24/7 help service, run by the United Way of Greater St. Louis, turned out to be a godsend, helping her to stabilize her life and slowly find peace of mind.
"I now tell people that 2-1-1 is the Google of St. Louis," Clark says. "They plug you into people, places and whatever services you might need, and they find those closest to your community so you won't have to travel so far to get help."
Thanks to the Siteman Cancer Center, Clark got good treatment for her stomach cancer. She also found programs that helped her with other health needs, such as medicine for high blood pressure. And she's found another job that offers health benefits.
The 2-1-1 system is an information and referral program serving millions nationwide, and it could help reduce health disparities, according to a study of 2-1-1 callers from Missouri, North Carolina, Texas and Washington.
In particular, the study suggested the potential for using 2-1-1 to reduce cancer disparities affecting the poor and racial and ethnic minorities, according to Jason Purnell, an assistant professor of public health at the Brown School at Washington University.
His study surveyed 1,400 callers to 2-1-1 and found that almost 70 percent needed at least one service that might help control cancer. An example, Purnell said, included callers needing smoking cessation information.
The callers were willing to answer questions about their health and to accept referrals for needed preventive services, Purnell said. He said callers were especially receptive to referrals for mammography, adult HPV vaccination and Pap testing.
He estimates that the health system could reach millions of consumers needing cancer control and prevention services, saying the results could have "an incredible public health impact."
Purnell added that a larger group of researchers, including his mentor, Matt Kreuter, director of the Health Communication Research Laboratory at the Brown School, had formed a research consortium with academic researchers and 2-1-1 leadership nationally.
The 2-1-1 system reaches all 50 states and offers lots of potential for targeting interventions for populations most at risk and who are calling 2-1-1, Purnell believes.
"The system fields 16 million calls a year, and many of the people calling have significant unmet health needs. It just makes a great deal of sense to partner with them."
Clark, the woman who fell on hard time three years ago and is now recovering, appreciates the value of 2-1-1 and understands that nowadays needs extend beyond the traditional indigent. She's learned as much after landing her new job as a financial eligibility counselor in the emergency room at Mercy Hospital St. Louis, formerly known as St. John's Mercy Medical Center, in West County.
"Some people wait till the last minute to come to the emergency room because they don't have health insurance," she says. "I've had people who live in places like St. Charles, in neighborhoods that have fallen on hard times, and they don't want people to know they are having difficulties after losing their jobs or being downsized to a job that doesn't offer insurance."
She tries to offer a little advice to make them feel at ease over having to ask for help.
"I have to let them know that it's okay to be proud but it's not okay to be prideful. You need to be able to ask for help and you need to be able to accept it when there's nothing else out there."
She also tells people about 2-1-1, and she thinks most will value it because it gives them a little privacy..
"You are not telling your story by sitting in a room and talking to a whole bunch of people. You make the call and choose what services you need. It's a way of letting people get help and keep their dignity."
