Since mid-March, Avenues has been partnering with Hennepin Healthcare to deepen Avenues’ health and wellness care for youth. Through the partnership, Dr. Rhamy Magid, a pediatric doctor who also served on Avenues’ Board of Directors, is available to youth at Minneapolis and Brooklyn Avenues in addition to our on-site nurse, Jeannie Freytag, and mental health team.
“Going into it, I was anticipating having a really long period of trust building (with youth),” Rhamy said. “But so far, youth have been wanting to talk. It’s felt really positive. The partnership between me and Jeannie and the case managers has felt really solid so far.”
The collaboration between Jeannie, Rhamy, the case managers and mental health staff is key to providing robust care that looks at the youth’s full range of experiences. Youth meet with Jeannie first, and already have strong relationships with case managers, who can then encourage and refer youth to meet with Rhamy. At the same time, Jeannie and Rhamy can consult with the mental health team and the case managers to get a better sense of a youth’s past experiences and mental and physical health.
The most common complaints Jeannie and Rhamy are seeing in youth right now are side effects of past trauma.
“A lot of physical complaints that have a strong component of a trauma history associated with it, like headaches or chronic pain,” Rhamy said about the types of issues youth are bringing to him. “Most things a nurse can do better than a doctor, but there are instances where youth may benefit from medications, being referred to a specialist, or things like that.”
The partnership with Hennepin Healthcare is part of Avenues’ continued efforts to be proactive with youth’s health, meet their immediate needs, and ensure that they have trusted providers they can see after leaving Avenues. Jeannie and Rhamy will also develop best practices for helping youth with their health and wellness goals.