Please meet Jennifer Hedland who has joined Boulder City Hospital as the Community Resource Liaison and our community-at-large, although she has been here before, so a few of you may even already be familiar with her.
Made possible by a grant funded by the City of Boulder City through the American Rescue Plan Act, the Community Resource program and the Community Resource Liaison position is a collaboration between the City, Nevadans for The Common Good, and Boulder City Hospital. Its goal is to help citizens navigate access to the social services programs they may need including healthcare services, food security, mental health, substance abuse, homelessness, and more.
For over a decade, Jennifer had been a licensed social worker at the long term care facility at Boulder City Hospital. She tells us that what she found most rewarding was looking into resources and connecting people to help them deal with the needs of their elderly family members.
Later in her career she transferred to Acute Rehabilitation Hospital in Henderson until this new opportunity back in Boulder City presented itself.
What Jennifer loves about our community is how tight knit it is. She says she has always enjoyed helping people, being of service, and finding new ways to connect.
The position is brand new – so Jennifer is literally creating her own infrastructure and gathering materials from scratch. She is interested in listening to residents to better understand their needs. One of the big ones she has noticed is something that sadly is a growing issue throughout the U.S. – the lack of mental health resources that individuals and families need.
Mental health is connected closely to the issues of addiction and homelessness and spills into a great many other social problems that affect communities everywhere.
One of your first opportunities to interact with Ms. Hedland will be at the upcoming Community Meeting this Thursday, the 18th at 6:30pm at the Senior Center, which we already told you about HERE.
Boulder City Hospital has partnered with the City and Nevadans for the Common Good for this event to discuss the issues and challenges facing our community. However, in the meantime, don’t be shy she says – her contact information and more about her role is included on the brochure below. Welcome Jennifer, we know your services are needed!