Gender Affirming Care Peer 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. We are recruiting for the following position:

Sea Mar is a mandatory COVID-19 and flu vaccine organization

Gender Affirming Care Peer Navigator - Posting #26290

Hourly Rate: $26.44

Position Summary:
Temporary Full Time position available as a Gender Affirming Care Peer Navigator. This position is located in Vancouver, WA at the Salmon Creek Medical Clinic. The Gender Affirming Care Peer Navigator will be primarily responsible for helping patient’s engage and remain in care, including patients living with HIV, and patients at risk for HIV. They will work closely with Sea Mar Salmon Creek’s Rapid ART program for HIV treatment, as well as with patients seeking “gender affirming medical and surgical treatments” (GAMST). This person will address the gaps in care for patients seeking GAMST, in addition to providing support and education. They will meet for one‐on-one sessions and may accompany patients to visits at Sea Mar or referral organizations. This is a grant supported position and regular reports and data collection will be necessary. This position is funded through 9/1/2024, at which point the temporary employee will have the opportunity to apply for other available positions.
 

Duties and Responsibilities:

• The navigator will have access to the electronic health record and scheduling software to support clear lines of communication between the provider team and front office to sup[ort appointments and schedule follow up.
• Reach out to patients newly diagnosed with HIV in need of Rapid ART treatment, or those re-engaging in care.
• Linking patients to gender affirming medical and surgical treatments, in addition to HIV services​​
• Be in frequent communication with the Rapid ART program director through team huddles, monthly meetings, and collaboration with community partners, Clark County Public Health and DOH.
• Assist clients, as needed, to navigate mental health and substance use recovery systems.
• Help patients overcome adverse social determinants of health and other barriers to care.
• Is available to clients regarding any questions/concerns they have and be willing to provide client with appropriate resource or contacts.
• Maintain awareness of cultural challenges and develop effective relationships with a diverse patient population.
• Accompanies clients to community-based organization/institutions as appropriate.
• Understand and follow HIPAA compliance policies and other rules of confidentiality.
• Demonstrates ability to effectively use the Epic electronic health record to schedule appointments, document telephone encounters, look up clinical information and test results, and correctly enter external results.
• Monitor data reports and summaries of progress and status of assigned patients.
• Maintains professionalism and the willingness to help others at all times.  Superior customer service skills will be demonstrated at all times.
• Demonstrates sound problem solving skills and the ability to be diplomatic in the face of adversity.
• Attend trainings and learning opportunities that expand content knowledge and best practices.
• Other duties as assigned.

Required Qualifications include:

• Must be able to work both independently with minimal supervision and as a collaborative team in a dynamic work environment.
• Must have the capacity to establish a liaison relationship with community resources, provide outreach service to clients and demonstrate professionalism and appropriate boundaries in all interactions.
• Must be willing to work later hours (after 5pm) on some days, and may require work out in the community or other non-traditional settings
• 1 year of experience in any of the following preferred: field of HIV/AIDs, GAMST, health care, education, outreach and/or peer navigation.
• Ability to work with ethnic, racial, economic, and sexually diverse populations and persons who have experienced homelessness, and persons with a mental illness and/or substance addiction.
• Must be able to use good judgment, meet deadlines and prioritize workloads, and be self-motivated. Must be able to maintain professionalism and appropriate boundaries in all interactions.
• Must be detail and process-oriented with experience using electronic recording data system (i.e. Epic) and various Microsoft Office applications such as Word, Excel, Access, Power Point, Outlook and Internet applications.
• Must be able to maintain confidentiality.
• Ability to think strategically to work though barriers with patients around medical access and procedures.
• Strong organizational and time management skills.
• Must possess the ability to read and interpret policies, procedures, schedules and other documents proficiently.
• Must have excellent verbal and written communication skills.
• Must be able to perform basic mathematical functions: add, subtract, multiply, divide in all unites of measure, using whole numbers, common fractions, and decimals.
• Must be able to solve problems, make independent decisions appropriately, and reason deductively.

Preferred Qualifications include:

• Knowledge of patient care processes, clinical procedures, and medical terminology.
• Persons who identify as transgender, gender nonbinary, or genderfluid/non-conforming
• Bilingual in English/Spanish or English/Russian. 
• Strong ability to multi-task

Education and/or Experience:

• High school diploma or GED required. 
• Pre-hire and annual employee health screening required.
• Initial TB test at hire and annual retest.
• Complete covid-19 vaccination is required
• Annual influenza vaccine required. Only exception is for employees with a medical or religious exemption approved by Administration. Employees with an approved medical or religious exemption must wear a mask at all times during the flu season.
• This person must receive a satisfactory background check from the Washington State Patrol and must maintain a valid Washington Driver’s license and automobile liability insurance coverage.

How to Apply:

To apply for this position, complete the online application and click SUBMIT or APPLY NOW. If you have any questions regarding the position, email Zachary Forsyth, HCA, at [email protected]. 

Sea Mar is an Equal Opportunity Employer

Posted 4/2/2024

Please visit our website to learn more about us at www.seamar.org. You may also apply thru our Career page at https://www.seamar.org/jobs-general.html