LAC hears presentation on CONNECT Referral System

A local council is looking at a web-based system to improve connecting people with health services.

Hill County Behavioral Health Local Advisory Council listened to a presentation Monday about the CONNECT Referral System, which is being set up throughout Montana, and what it can offer organizations like theirs.

Coordinator for the Hill County Youth Reporting Center Matt Erdel gave the presentation and said he wanted to talk about system and its benefits.

Erdel said CONNECT is a web-based system designed to facilitate the coordination of care between organizations medical and otherwise to address people’s health more holistically by streamlining referrals and expanding the network of organizations those referrals can be sent to and received by.

He said the idea was thought up in Helena by people trying to find a way to more effectively connect students and families with the services they needed including housing services, community coalitions, food services, schools programs etc.

Erdel said this system can be used to help people with a myriad of complicating factors affecting their health by making it easier for their providers to get them where they need to go.

“Imagine that there’s a man named Stanley Johnson,” he said. “He’s 57 years old, and he comes to his Lewis and Clark diabetes prevention coach. During their session together, the coach realizes that Stanley has increasing arthritis related issues, he wants to find out if he’s eligible for Medicare, but he recently lost his construction job and has become food insecure.

“Now he needs to find a job that’s easier on his body, but he doesn’t have the computer skills to apply for anything in an office environment,” Erdel continued. “And now he needs to find a place to live that’s more affordable. He’s also having troubles with his car, but doesn’t have the money to get it fixed. These are a whole lot of issues and a nurse can’t handle all of them, but with the CONNECT system and Stanley’s consent she can make six referrals on his behalf.”

Erdel said non-medical organizations in the area exist for alleviating these problems, and with this system local partners like LAC could utilize and be utilized by CONNECT to get people more help.

He said the system comes at no cost, is easy to use with only a few minutes needed to make referrals.

He said the system has gone through a number of updates and is now very streamlined.

Erdel said it’s important to note that this is not a case management system or a database of medical records, but it is a way to fill in support gaps and he wants to encourage local partners to get on board.

LAC Chair Andi Daniel provided an update to the council on the situation with the larger Service Area Authorities their organization is part of.

She said Hill County was recently invited to join the Eastern SAA, which she said operates more efficiently than Central SAA that they are currently part of.

Daniel said she was not ready to make any kind of commitment, she will write something up and LAC can talk about it in the next meeting.

Council Member Curtis Smeby said he shared her frustrations with Central SAA, but said it’s frankly amazing that any of them run at all given the limited resources they’re given.

He also said he worries about making such a decision with a new state administration coming in so soon and proposed looking at the idea again after they have a better idea of what things will look like under Greg Gianforte as Montana’s governor.

Daniel said that was a good point.

She also provided an update for LAC Vice-Chair Amber Spring, who couldn’t attend the meeting, and who Daniel said is working on more QPR training for the Suicide Awareness Coalition.

She said Spring and the coalition are working to get the word out about this training through social media and other means.

Daniel talked about LAC reaching out the the agriculture community regarding suicide prevention and mental health services, ag workers being a relatively underserved community in regards to mental health.

Council Member Sharon Dolph suggested that someone representing LAC offer to do a presentation to the Montana Organic Association’s annual conference as a way of introducing themselves to the community.

She also brought up the possibility of training a critical incident stress management team in the area and asked if a recent $20,000 grant Hill County received from the Addictive and Mental Disorders Division of the Montana Department of Public Health and Human Services could be used for that kind of thing.

Daniel said she’s not sure that would be permitted, but she thinks it’s a good idea.

National Alliance on Mental Illness Havre President Crystal Laufer said her organization is currently working on helping other branches, particularly in Lewistown, get their operations running.

She said NAMI is also still holding state-wide classes about family and peer to peer support over Zoom and are looking to do more in the near future.

She said this year’s conference continues to go well, with the next meeting Dec. 22 from noon to 1 p.m.