Services We Offer

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Families In Need of Assistance will help to guide a patient through the healthcare system. This may include help going through the screening, diagnosis, treatment, and follow-up of a medical condition, such as cancer. We will help patients communicate with their healthcare providers so they get the information they need to make decisions about their health care. FINA may also help patients set up appointments for doctor visits and medical tests and get financial, legal, and social support. We'll work with insurance companies, employers, case managers, lawyers, and others who may have an effect on a patient’s healthcare needs. 

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Families In Need of Assistance realizes how complex our legal and medical systems have become. We provide services to help our clients best utilize these systems in a cost-effective manner.

We help clients:

• Research and obtain benefits from their health insurance providers
• Brainstorm solutions to frightening situations that render clients almost helpless at times
• Understand/feel that they are not alone as they confront some of life's most-challenging issues
• Research the best-possible sources for second opinion consultations
• Resolve hotel or transportation issues related to obtaining medical care treatments and/or second opinions
• Get referred to the top legal and/or medical professionals as appropriate
• Deal with end-of-life issues

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In 2020 our world turned upside down with COVID-19. Families In Need of Assistance continued to follow its mission by adding COVID-response programs to our well-established 24-hour referral service. These include the coordination of testing, vaccination, doctors’ appointments, transportation, grocery and drugstore deliveries, holiday-dinner distribution, and other supports for stricken clients. We have applied for funding to add a mentoring program for children whose reading levels have dropped during COVID school closings.

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Families In Need of Assistance has started advocating for clients with health insurance companies as benefits change and the rules are more confusing. Our elderly clients in particular are challenged with communicating with the doctors and other health care providers. They feel they are the forgotten generation, the new "throw-aways" or “put-aways.” Previously, the older generations in most cultures were revered, respected, and looked to for advice, but our youth-obsessed culture has sent so many negative messages to our elders. 

FINA has once again stepped in to provide food, help with medical and insurance-company communication, and assistance to families at home by helping to provide home health care and support services. The scams perpetuated on our elder generation are outrageous, especially since most seniors are ill equipped technically to understand these scams. Elder intervention is needed now more then ever. 

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• Mediation helps separating couples take control of their own lives. It removes the family from an adversarial situation. It is especially helpful for parents to be able to make decisions about their children's well being. The decision-making process learned in mediation is often used as a model for future communications.
• Mediated settlements have a higher compliance rate since the individuals create their own agreement.
• The process is very simple. The couple meets in a series of sessions and works with the divorce mediator to form an agreement that both parties and the children are happy with. In special situations this also can be done on the phone in a three way conference call if the parties live a distance from each other or they feel they can not meet in person. When an agreement is reached the couple takes it to their respective lawyers to be created into a legal document. This process saves money as well as emotional strain on the divorcing couple.
• Mediation can be used in a number of other situations when the parties wish to obtain a solution instead of first consulting lawyers. Examples include neighborhood disputes, business disputes, medical malpractice, etc. If Families In Need of Assistance feels a referral is necessary to another mediator or mediation business, they will let the client know,

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Legal advocacy – also known as advocacy through the courts – uses the judicial system to advance social change goals. This is often done by bringing forward a legal case in court that focuses on improving a situation for a particular group of disadvantaged people. 

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• Families In Need of Assistance is there to assist in helping youth address addiction issues as well as bullying and teen violence issues by providing group discussions, seminars, and focus groups. Our youth group can play an active role in creating these projects.

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 A domestic violence victim advocate is a professional who provides vital support to victims of domestic violence. Domestic violence includes physical, emotional, sexual, or psychological abuse inflicted by a spouse, intimate partner, or cohabitant. 

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Programs for clients suffering from cancer and domestic violence are given a day of focus on self image. This may include job interview preparation or help with picking out wigs for cancer victims.

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