21 Jul Campus outreach programs dedicated to health join forces with Extension
University of Wisconsin–Extension
Three UW–Madison education programs units dedicated to community health and well-being joined together to enhance statewide resources for health and health care. The Center for Patient Partnerships as well as Covering Wisconsin are joining forces with the Division of Extension’s Health & Well-Being Institute this July. The complementary alignment of these units will expand efforts to promote healthy individuals, organizations, and communities across Wisconsin.
The Center for Patient Partnerships – founded as an interdisciplinary center of the Schools of Law, Medicine & Public Health, Nursing, and Pharmacy – is a national leader in health advocacy education and patient experiences research. The Center trains professional and graduate students in individual- and systems-level health advocacy through a service-learning program that provides free advocacy services to Wisconsinites. Their research illuminates patients’ experiences with illness and receiving treatment – offering insights and ideas to improve care. Covering Wisconsin (CWI) is Wisconsin’s federally-certified and state-licensed Health Insurance Navigator entity providing residents free, impartial help with publicly available health coverage. CWI has been offering direct service, outreach, consumer education, and professional training from its home within the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Human Ecology since 2003, with the goal of helping connect state residents with health insurance and other programs that support health.The program’s diverse staff draw upon well-developed connections with public, private, and governmental agencies and facile understanding of complex rules to navigate consumers through the complicated landscape of learning about, choosing, and effectively using health insurance to access appropriate health care services.
Organizations and residents across Wisconsin have benefited from the impactful resources of Covering Wisconsin since 2003 and the Center for Patient Partnerships since 2000, and those critical functions will continue with Extension. Read more …