Parent Navigator Team's COVID-19 Response at the USC UCEDD

May 12, 2021

Our PN Team, left to right, consists of Fran Goldfarb (Parent Specialist and Director of UCEDD Community Education), Helen Setaghiyan (Project Coordinator), Guadalupe Lorena Eaton (Parent Navigator), Lucia Babb (Parent Navigator), Dr. Christine Mirza

The Parent Navigator (PN) Project provides three full-time Parent Navigators, who are parents of individuals with developmental disabilities themselves and have extensive experience in system navigation, to assist families with linkage to Early Intervention Services, the CA Regional Centers, and other appropriate community resources.

Based at the University of Southern California's UCEDD at Children's Hospital Los Angeles and funded by the CA DDS Promoting Service Access and Equity Grant, the PN team serves a largely low-income and Spanish speaking patient population.

In March 2021, it became evident that the medically and socially complex families under their care were not able to access COVID-19 vaccination appointments with ease, due to language, digital, and practical barriers. In response, the PN team was able to schedule 175 family members of children with DD for their COVID-19 vaccinations at three vaccination sites across Los Angeles. These efforts would not have been possible without their partnership with agencies such as South-Central Los Angeles Regional Center, El Arca, the Tierra Del Sol Foundation, and the City of Los Angeles Department on Disability.

Through the COVID-19 outbreak, there has been a greater need for assistance with obtaining generic services. Since April 2020, the Parent Navigators have helped an additional 117 families with obtaining IHSS, 96 with obtaining SSI, 46 with housing needs, 63 with food insecurities, 59 with legal resources, and 206 families with COVID-19 supplies and PPE. The PNs have executed this response while continuing their usual efforts in helping families with service linkage.