Advocating with Adelina Alves
Adelina Alves has worked at the Upham's Corner Health Center for 12 years. She is originally from Cape Verde having immigrated to the US with her family. Adelina is the Community Health Advocates Supervisor at the Upham’s Corner Health Center.Adelina supervises a multi-cultural team of seven outreach workers who assist our patients to access services, to interface with the courts and other governmental agencies, and to improve access to medical care at the health center. Her staff includes: Callie Daniels, Elisabeth Fernandes, Clotilde Miranda, Iolanda Miranda, Hong Hoa Nguyen and Sandra Sermeno.
Adelina understands the challenges in having immigrant populations learn about the health care systems in the US. She continually finds creative approaches so that she and her staff are able to empower patients so that they can help themselves. Advocates will frequently go to patients’ homes, if needed, in order to get patients in to see their physician when they have missed needed follow-up appointments. The primary care providers find the services that the advocates do invaluable in caring for our patients.
Adelina also is actively involved in the care of our patients at Upham’s. She serves as a primary manager for the large number of Cape Verdean patients. Her ties to that Cape Verdean community are deep and born of both her experience as an immigrant to the US and the thousands of people she has helped since coming to work at Upham’s Corner in 1990. Adelina also oversees the Healthy Families Program and renders tremendous supports to health care access and outreach programs here at UCHC e.g. the Breast & Cervical Cancer Screening, Men’s Health, WIC, Maternal Child Health, Health Benefits and Enrollment, Teen Clinic etc. By day, Adelina mobilizes her team to walk the streets and knock on doors to ensure that families have health insurance and a primary care provider. By night, she can be seen at community and civic association meetings advocating for our patients and area residents. In order to reach Adelina you may call her at extension 8142 or email her at aalves@partners.org.