These are testimonials on how DARIA has impacted the work done by our case managers, as expressed by case managers themselves.
By making patients searchable and displaying data in a case-manager-friendly way, DARIA cuts down on the mental overhead needed to learn or troubleshoot a spreadsheet.
When I started Case Managing with the DC Abortion Fund (DCAF), my biggest struggle was the learning curve of utilizing CryptoHeaven to record and track patient data. The time it took to troubleshoot, search for missing information, and correct errors took valuable time away from connecting with patients. When DARIA was introduced, those struggles ceased being a barrier.
Fighting with Excel can hinder the flow of conversation, which can affect a case manager's focus and relationship building with a caller. DARIA's simplified user interface minimizes thinking about technology, freeing up space for conversations.
The time and energy I had previously spent on technology challenges morphed into time spent speaking with patients, sharing resources, and documenting their shared information. My ability to focus on the task of connecting people with funding for abortion care was renewed and reinvigorated.
Using a shared canonical spreadsheet can result in people accidentally overwriting each other's work; DARIA's backing database and patient history feature make it so case managers don't have to worry about losing a night's work or having their changes overwritten and lost.
When we used to use [a shared Excel spreadsheet], I'd find myself up past midnight re-typing into the spreadsheet notes that I'd handwritten while talking to callers that night. I couldn't take notes directly on [the spreadsheet] for fear of it crashing and losing the data. With DARIA in effect, I get to only write down notes one time and go to sleep at a reasonable hour. For this I'm forever grateful.
Patients may often need to work with DCAF for an extended period of time. DARIA helps keep these more complex cases organized, which enables more seamless patient care.
Before every shift, we get an email from the previous shift manager about calls to look out for and upcoming appointments. Many times it will take several shifts for a patient to get everything they need together in order to make it to an appointment, especially if they are traveling far, so they will work with at least two case managers. They may also not connect with us for multiple shifts, so they won't be in the past case manager's email. Since DARIA, it has been easier to know who these patients are and to reach out to them.
On my last shift, I called through all the people in the DARIA queue and spoke to two people who had the intention of reaching out but were so busy trying to live their lives that they hadn't called us back yet. They appreciated my checking in. One patient only needed $50 more dollars, so we were able to help them on the spot -- one less phone call that they had to make to get the healthcare they deserve and they were so relieved to know that they were finally set to go to their appointment. The other patient had a lot of questions and hadn't taken a lot of action since the last time DCAF had spoken with them. We were able to break down their plans into smaller steps and I spoke with them every day to support them as they worked towards their abortion appointment. Without DARIA's wonderful new tracking queue neither of these patients would have gotten the support they deserve. And still another patient had made it to their appointment and was so grateful that we spoke about how they could get involved with our program.