CUSTOMER
NYC Health + Hospitals/Correctional Health Services (CHS)
CHALLENGE
NYC Health + Hospitals/Correctional Health Services (CHS) is responsible for providing healthcare to all individuals incarcerated in the NYC jail system. This includes providing reentry support to facilitate continuity of care and a successful transition back to the community.
SOLUTION
The Premier Wireless CPR³ program featuring a smart device pre-programmed with resources to ease the transition from incarceration.
CPR³ Provides Healthcare Continuity in Reentry
CPR³ Solution · NYC Health + Hospitals/Correctional Health Services (CHS)NYC Health + Hospitals/Correctional Health Services (CHS) is responsible for providing healthcare to all individuals incarcerated in the NYC jail system. This includes providing reentry support to facilitate continuity of care and a successful transition back to the community. Through the generous support of T-Mobile and Premier Wireless, CHS has been able to provide hundreds of people leaving custody with a free smartphone with a twelve-month service plan. We believe it is the first public-private initiative to distribute free cell phones with prepaid service among people just released from jail at a sizeable scale, and it has the potential to mitigate the deleterious impact
of incarceration on health outcomes.
Returning to the community from jail can be an incredibly stressful transition as people try to obtain/retain housing, seek employment and benefits, reintegrate into their families, and remain engaged in healthcare. Premier Wireless’ CPR³ software is a powerful tool that helps connect our patients with services to support those goals in the community. Thanks to the CPR³ system, all the phones CHS distributes come pre-loaded with resources – including the NYC Public Library’s Connections Guide and the NYC Human Resource Administration application – and have critical contacts, such as CHS’ reentry helpline, pre-programmed.
“Premier Wireless’ CPR³ software is a powerful tool that helps connect our patients with services to support [housing, employment, healthcare, and family reintegration within] the community.”
These phones have provided a crucial missing link for some of our most vulnerable patients leaving Rikers Island. One individual with complex health conditions received a cell phone upon his release and was able to call the CHS reentry helpline for assistance in the community. The staff guided him over the phone on how to navigate public transportation in order to get to the community-based non-profit where his case manager was located. Another patient received an outreach call from a CHS Reentry Liaison who was able to talk him through picking up his medication at the community pharmacy and who later scheduled him for a primary care appointment. Stories like these have demonstrated how a working cellphone can help minimize the risks individuals recently released from jail inevitably face by empowering them to stay in touch with their social service, healthcare, and informal support networks.
CPR³ Program
Premier Wireless a leading provider of technology solutions designed to enhance safety, drive innovation, improve communication, and facilitate transformation. Notably, our CPR³ solution stands out as a purpose-driven device specifically customized to deliver vital resources to individuals in critical situations.
