Patient Health Navigator

Sea Mar Community Health Centers, a Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC) founded in 1978, is a community-based organization committed to providing quality, comprehensive health, human, housing, educational and cultural services to diverse communities, specializing in service to Latinos in Washington State. Sea Mar proudly serves all persons without regard to race, ethnicity, immigration status, gender, or sexual orientation, and regardless of ability to pay for services. Sea Mar's network of services includes more than 90 medical, dental, and behavioral health clinics and a wide variety of nutritional, social, and educational services.

Sea Mar is a mandatory COVID-19 and flu vaccine organization. This is a full-time volunteer position with a modest living allowance stipend. AmeriCorps members receive up to $20,400 prorated stipend over the course of their service of 1,700 hours ending July of 2026. Members serving less than 1,700 hours will receive a reduced Living Allowance stipend. Members receive their stipend at two-week intervals prorated through their service year. After successful completion of their service time, AmeriCorps members receive a maximum $7,395 Education Award to be applied towards the member's education/training.

Position Summary

Patient Navigators work with various health services providers to assist patients to access appropriate care, establish a medical home, assure pre- and post-visit needs are met and facilitate brief health education encounters related to chronic conditions, medically complicated cases and patients with multiple barriers to clinical care. Navigators provide translation/interpretation services as needed. Duties may vary as each position is customized to meet the specific needs of the host clinic.

Duties and Responsibilities

• Schedule appointments and navigate patients through health system barriers.
• Initiate communication with patients and assist with support in making referrals to address the full spectrum of patient needs.
• Participate in mandatory trainings, service projects and team building activities throughout their 10-11 month full time term of service.
• Create informational materials and available resources to have at Sea Mar sites, including posters, promotional programs, healthy diet and recipes, exercise information, handouts/take-away, as well as resource binders that provide information about available Sea Mar and community resources.
• Create a community resource guide to share with patients and the AmeriCorps-Sea Mar group.
• Review electronic health record charts and lists to identify patients in need of important health screenings and services. Schedule appropriate appointments according to patient needs.
• Prepare mail outs with appropriate materials and patient identifier information.
• Collaborate with Sea Mar medical clinic staff, quality improvement staff, and other Sea Mar departments as needed to identify patients in need of screenings, to inform care teams about preventative care, and to reach out to these identified patients.
• Work with Sea Mar staff to roll-out additional preventive health screening and recall efforts to patients.
• Participate in an AmeriCorps site health project, including community outreach, health interventions, and health events regarding health topics such as smoking cessation, diabetes education, nutrition, and healthy lifestyles.
• Pro-actively aid in increasing public awareness regarding health coverage enrollment opportunities by planning and conducting outreach activities within the community.
• Assist in the development and distribution of informational/promotional materials, and establish and maintain referral relationships with local organizations, agencies, institutions and businesses as directed by the AmeriCorps Department.

Qualifications

To perform this service successfully, an individual must be able to perform each essential duty satisfactorily. The requirements listed below are representative of the knowledge, skill, and/or ability required. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

• Bilingual English/Spanish preferred.
• Ability to interpret documents such as safety rules, operating and maintenance instructions, and procedure manuals; possess the ability to write routine reports and correspondence; ability to communicate effectively with clients or employees of the organization.
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills, including ability to compile, interpret, and utilize information; and to communicate effectively with people of all backgrounds and educational levels.
• Ability to work with minimal supervision, use good judgment, meet deadlines, and prioritize workloads.
• Ability to maintain confidentiality.
• Well organized with good attention to detail.
• Ability to maintain professionalism and appropriate boundaries in all interactions.
• Intermediate computer skills; must be computer literate and have good mathematical skills. Experience in Windows Office programs preferred.
• Ability to solve problems and reason deductively.

Education, Certificates, Licenses, Registrations, and Medical Screening

• High School Diploma Required.
• Preferred undergraduate degree or equivalent work experience.
• Must have a current TB test (within the past year). Must receive a satisfactory background check from WATCH and all CNCS background check requirements.

Service Environment

The service environment characteristics described here are representative of those an employee encounters while performing essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

• This member will provide service in a group office setting, with significant levels of distractions and background noise.
• Must maintain a professional appearance and demeanor at all times.
• Must wear appropriate personal protective equipment.