Victoria Glasgow, Case Manager
Have you ever had a rainy day? Everyone has. Imagine the worst rainy day you’ve ever experienced. Who did you turn to for help? Now, imagine having that same rainy day, but without anyone to turn to, or any idea of where to go for help. To help alleviate this problem, KidsCare Therapy provides case management services to the families of the patients we serve. As a social worker, I connect a patient and his or her family to valuable community resources, and then guide them through the process of accessing services.
Case management, in my eyes, is like a great adventure— you never know what type of challenge is around the corner, or how you are going to affect a person’s life. As a case manager, I not only assist families in addressing their concerns regarding their child or family’s needs, but also help them identify resources of which they were unaware. Case mangers assist families in gaining access to necessary medical, social/family, nutritional, educational, vocational, developmental and other health care services.
During my time at KidsCare Therapy, I have had many opportunities to be that pot of gold at the end of the rainbow for our clients and their families on their rainy days. I recall receiving a phone call from a mother who did not know what was going on with her son David, she just knew that something was not right. I not only was able to help the mother get David diagnosed with Autism, but I was also able to help her get him into a preschool program for children with disabilities. Together, we worked to get her connected with community support groups and other specialized programs for children with Autism.
On another occasion, I received a call from a mother who was having a lot of problems with her apartment complex, water and electric bills. As you can imagine, the mother was very worried about being kicked out of the apartment and the possibility of being without water or electricity right when Dallas was expecting a big snow storm to hit the area. The mother had requested, several times, that a water leak be repaired, but the apartment complex did not want to accept the responsibility and make the repair. I was able to help this mother find out who she needed to contact in the city to help determine where the leak was coming from and who was responsible. It was later discovered that it was the apartment complex’s responsibility. The city provided the mother the needed documentation to give the apartment complex to fix the leak. The mother was able to get her water bill reduced, but she was behind on her electric bill. I was able to provide her with some community resources that assist families in paying their electricity bills. She called the agencies one by one and was able to get some assistance with her electric bill. In the end, the mother was able to find even more help through a local church that helped her pay the electric bill.
Caring for a developmentally delayed child is difficult enough, but the added problems of everyday life can sometimes leave parents wondering how they’ll manage. I love that I’m able to connect them with the resources to help them provide the very best care and conditions for their child, and I’m proud to work for a company that sees this as a necessity.
