Table 2 Representative member quotes

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Representative Quotes

Communication Regarding HRSNs

“I feel pretty comfortable talking with my doctor about my needs. Like maybe 80%. I don’t know her that well yet.”

“I probably wouldn’t talk to my provider about my social needs… I think that just comes from maybe my generation or something, or just the way overall people look at things like that. All the stuff that comes with, ‘you shouldn’t need that,’ or ‘you shouldn’t apply for that.’ ‘You’re freeloading’… I struggle with actually asking for help.”

“With my care coordinator, I met with her before COVID. Her and another therapist met me at [a coffee shop], and we talked for about an hour and she’s been my care coordinator ever since.”

How Unmet HRSNs are Being Addressed

“My care coordinator has taken me shopping to get groceries, she’s taken me for the vaccine, when I didn’t have a ride to Boston, twice.”

“For transportation, because of the back surgeries that I have, my doctor filled out the handicap placard thing for me and helped me to apply for [the transportation service]. My doctor also told me about [another transportation] pilot program, which I enrolled in.”

“My care coordinator schedules my appointments, she helps me get rides, she helps me with housing, and paperwork… like it’s crazy. I never met someone that does that.”

Barriers to Addressing HRSNs

“I live $3,000 below the poverty line. For an individual, 13,500 is the poverty line. So, you see what the struggle is…And from the time of the month, where people have less food because the food stamps don’t come until next week, they’re calling food pantries. And they’re going to the food pantries, if they have a car.”

“There’s been times that I’ve gone to the hospital, and they want to sit there and then discharge me at maybe two or three o’clock in the morning. I can’t call an [ride share application] and public transportation stops running at a certain time.”

“The case worker did reach out to me, but that’s because we were still trying to get into the family shelter at that point… I just had a baby…I needed a bank statement to get into the family shelter.”

“When I call the food pantry, you have to redial the local number until you get through. Sometimes it takes you over 100 calls, redialing to finally get through. And since COVID, they let you get food every two weeks…You get a busy signal, and you get a “please try back later,” then finally, it could be 150 tries, because everybody in the city’s trying to call at the same time. They don’t have a hotline with different lines. Pick up for everybody is at once, and you can only call between 10:00 and 12:00. If you don’t get through by 11:30, all the orders are taken, you go without food.”

“I was in prison and I worked in the optical shop, so I made glasses. I know my prescription, I know what to look for, so I usually just go online and spend twenty bucks, thirty bucks and get a pair of glasses. It is quite a skillset, except nobody wants to hire a felon.”