WellAWARE's three staff members are expert problem solvers who help clients overcome stubborn barriers to good health and health care. They organize medicine. They provide nutritional counseling. They purchase air conditioning units and mediate with distressed landlords. They hand out cars to food banks and pharmacies, hand out gas and grocery cards, figure out what to do if electricity and water go out, and even handle snakes in homes.
WellAWARE's support is grassroots, person-to-person, with zero people potentially falling through the cracks, and gives clients the help they want.
As a student at UVA, Peyton was inspired to pay special attention to patients who are sometimes overlooked. After she became a nurse, Peyton took in dementia patients in group homes, worked in locked psychiatric wards, and found a passion for being with people when they were “not in their element.” .
“I really respect the dignity of people who are facing hardship,” Payton said. “Psychiatric nursing is a field where you are often called in just to be with people and listen to their stories. I have always appreciated the therapeutic value of listening to people.”
For the first nine months of 2021, Peyton knocked on doors, chatted on porches, attended neighborhood association meetings and put up antennas. Based on census tract maps that show areas where residents frequently use emergency rooms for primary care, Peyton's approach built trust and credibility and gave community members a sense of ownership in the project.
WellAWARE began as a collaboration with Charlottesville Free Clinic, UVA Primary Care, and Central Virginia Health Services, providing support that enhances the group's services and client needs. Peyton and her colleagues make house calls, a type of courtesy that appeals to her and has proven to save money.
“If the health care system saves money, it's better for everyone overall, but that's not what excites me the most when I wake up in the morning,” Peyton said. “The benefit to the community, neighbors, local families and individuals is what makes this work so rewarding. It really works.”
