Join host Chris LaVictoire Mahai as she sits down with Jaffer Traish, the Chief Operating Officer of findhelp, to discuss the current challenges of, and great opportunity in, supporting consumers seeking help when they need it most. Access to quality healthcare is, of course, one great need. Then there are all the daily living needs everyone must juggle that have dramatic impacts on a person’s health and well-being. Access to healthy meals, transportation, financial aid, and safe shelter are just some examples.

What is the experience of individuals who have limited means, no health insurance, and no ready options for physical and/or mental healthcare nearby? How pervasive are these problems today? Where are we seeing innovative ideas and community action making a difference? Jaffer and Chris take on all these questions and more.

New this season! Each episode features consumer voices and testimonials based on their experiences, allowing us to truly orient our conversations from the “outside-in.” Thank you to those who shared their experiences with us.

About our guest

As the COO at findhelp, Jaffer Traish is focused on helping all people in need through growing partner and customer impact within their communities.  Across government, healthcare, education, corrections and more, connecting seekers to meaningful programs with strategic investment and technical innovation is Jaffer’s passion.

Previously, Jaffer served as the VP of Consulting at Culbert Healthcare where he focused on improving patient care through the marriage of improved clinical and financial operations and analytics with top-ranked electronic health records. He also brings his experience serving as the Director of Implementation for clinical decision support solutions where he led innovation and implementation for the US Market.

Jaffer spent several years at Epic where he led enterprise EHR implementations across large non-profit and academic medical centers in the US. He participates with the local HIMSS chapter and serves on the Advisory Board.

Jaffer is driven by improving outcomes and wellness with innovative technology, system optimization and talented teams. When not immersed in HIT efforts, he enjoys Austin’s outdoor activities and is a local coffee-house and soccer enthusiast. 

About findhelp

Findhelp is the nation’s leading social care network, making it easy for customers in a wide range of industries to integrate social care into the work they already do. Findhelp currently partners with more than 300 healthcare and payer organizations in addition to their customers in education, government, housing, and more. Through customer platforms and their public site, findhelp.org, the findhelp network reaches more than 15 million users across the country, making it easy to connect people seeking help and the verified social care providers that serve them. 

Findhelp’s social care technology is built by people who understand the challenges their users face. From working in the fields of social work, education, and healthcare, having sought help themselves, their unique viewpoints drive compassion for their larger community. They’ve built their network with a clear focus on their mission — to connect people to the help they need with dignity and ease.

Memorable quotes from this episode:

“…in this country, federal administrations have created, modified, and even weakened Safety Net funding over decades. So ultimately, we believe there’s a lot we can do to build a new Safety Net using the private sector. And we do need public-private partnerships to get there.”

Jaffer Traish

“…we believe in self navigation, the concept that people truly want to help themselves when they’re able. And to live that, we make sure every customer we work with has a public community facing site where anyone in the community can log in or be anonymous.”

Jaffer Traish