Please note that we are seeing high patient volumes in the emergency department. Learn more >>.

Know before you go to the ER
Select the search type
  • Site
  • Web
Go

In the News Archive

Social workers match mentors, patients for transplant program

  • August 1, 2007
  • Number of views: 3481
  • 0 Comments

By Julie Randle, Suburban Journals, July 18, 2007

The transplant mentor program at Barnes-Jewish Hospital provides patients a different perspective on transplant surgeries.

Matched with a mentor, a patient is given the opportunity to learn from someone who has been through a transplant.

"The goal is to enhance the process and to provide a different perspective on the process besides the medical community''s opinion," said Rebecca Bathon, a clinical social worker and part of the transplant mentor program at Barnes-Jewish Hospital.

Mentors and patients are matched by hospital social workers. Mentors are matched with patients who need the same type of transplants, but diseases may vary. Social workers try to match patients with the type of mentor they seek, whether that is based on same sex, age, profession or language.

"It's really driven by what a patient wants," said Karen Politsch, a clinical social worker and part of the transplant mentor program at Barnes-Jewish Hospital.

Patients learn about the program through brochures, as well as and during their assessment and evaluation process.

The program was started in 2002. In its history about 200 mentors have been trained and hundreds of matches have been made between patients and mentors. Some connections are short-term while others turn into friendships.

"Mentors are very honest. They don''t make this pretty. They tell it like it is," Bathon said.

For more information, call (314) TOP-DOCS.

Print
Tags:
Rate this article:
No rating
Find a doctor or make an appointment: 866.867.3627
General Information: 314.747.3000
One Barnes-Jewish Plaza
St. Louis, MO 63110
© Copyright 1997-2024, Barnes-Jewish Hospital. All Rights Reserved.