Harm Reduction Outreach Specialist
Boston Medical Center
- Boston, MA
- Permanent
- Part-time
- Provides harm reduction education and supplies within the drop-in and during outreach to promote safe drug consumption
- Completes targeted outreach in the community and drop-in to provide harm reduction education including safe injection practices, HIV/HCV/STI prevention strategies, and overdose prevention
- Engages patients in risk reduction sessions in the community/street
- Performs follow-up risk reduction/counseling sessions as necessary
- Tailors outreach strategies based on the target population
- Must be able to travel across the BMC campus and throughout the city of Boston to community outreach sites when necessary
- Provides patient education on HIV, STI, and Hepatitis, and TB
- Performs HIV tests by finger stick & blood draw methods
- Performs HIV, Hepatitis, TB, syphilis test by blood draw
- Performs Chlamydia and Gonorrhea test by urine specimen collection.
- Educates patients on self-collection methods for anal, rectal, throat and vaginal swabs. Refers all positive patients to care and services
- Works with the Department of Public Health field epidemiologists on cases
- Assist patients with insurance issues, this will mostly be for positive patients
- Will utilize any future testing method required by the funder
- All testing session information will be documented in the EMR
- Able to conduct chart reviews in the EMR to make decisions about the linkage to care process and follow-up until treatment completion including tracking all the steps in the EMR so the treatment team can view notes
- Communicate effectively, professionally, and in a timely manner with navigators to link patients
- Write accurate notes in the BMC EMR and in the other tracking systems for a specific contracts
- Follows-up with relevant providers and navigators as needed
- Responds to the EMR messaging system in a timely manner
- Effectively work in a team with community outreach sites and within BMC when necessary
- Able to input data into computer systems, including the BMC EMR
- Respond in a timely manner to deadlines and program management
- Tracks and monitors referral from various client referrals sources.
- Be able to report basic level data to program management
- Lived experience with substance use preferred
- Bilingual-bicultural preferred.
- Sensitivity to ethnic, cultural, gender, and sexual orientation diversity, values, beliefs, and behaviors.
- Demonstrated ability to be flexible with client’s priorities, evolving needs, and goals.
- Demonstrated empathic understanding of patients who are diagnosed with HIV, mental illness, and substance abuse.
- Effective verbal and written communication skills in English.
- Demonstrated critical thinking and problem solving ability.
- Computer competency, including Microsoft Outlook, Work, and Excel.
- Organizational skills to multi-task, set priorities, and efficiently complete assigned work.
- Effective interpersonal skills to facilitate communication with various members of the health care team, patients, and their families.
- Physical ability to meet the core job responsibilities in accordance with practice setting demands for the patient populations regularly served.