Contact Representative Thesis Statement

Table of Contents

 Abstract

 Thesis Statement: A contact representative is the advocate that ties the client with services that they are qualified to use and to make sure the client has all the information they need to successfully use these resources

 Career or occupational area

 Careers

 Basic functions of the career

 Education / training requirements

 Typical work settings

 Culturally competent work with diverse populations

 Career development

 Future alternatives

 Conclusion narrative

 References

 Summary

Abstract

Occupations in the HHS range from many different jobs. The occupation we will talk about in this paper is a Contact Representative. A Contact Representative “provide information and assistance to the public

when the nature of the programs administered and the complexity of the laws, regulations, and related administrative practices involve a broad range and volume of inquiries that cannot be answered routinely” (United States Office of Personnel Management). Many people become a contact representative because they love helping others, someone helped them during a difficult time in their lives and now want to do the same for others or because they did volunteer work and realized that they enjoy challenges, working with clients during turmoil in their lives and know that they are very good a listening and finding solutions. Regardless the reasons, the common denominator is helping people during challenging trials in their lives.
Being a contact representative is a rewarding career path that is growing. A contact representative is the advocate that ties the client with services that they are qualified to use and to make sure the client has all the information they need to successfully use these resources.

A contact representative is the federal government name for a patient representative.

As a contact representative, you will have endless job prospects. They vary from working in professional services and as a Medicare interviewer, eligibility interviewer and welfare interviewer. For this paper, we will talk strictly about the contact representative that works with military personnel.

The Contact Representative coordinates with the Health System Specialist or Counselor and assembles medical information from the service member’s medical record and disability evaluation board that are prepared by either the Medical Evaluation Board providers and/or Veteran’s Affairs providers (United States Office of Personnel Management). There are many different career growths for a contact representative. To start off as an entry level contact representative start at the GS-4 level and can work their way up to a GS-10

position.
The basic duties for a contact representative are to provide service members with instructions pertaining to all the steps of the disability evaluation process to include preparing appeals, rebuttals, and coordinates legal counsel.

They also provide information and advice on rights and benefits of the service members that are being retired permanently or temporarily, or being discharged for physical disabilities with or without severance pay. The Contact Representative coordinates the appropriate referrals related to benefits the service member is eligible to receive. They provide travel arraignments for the service member’s medical appointments and make sure the service member has an advocate for them throughout the whole process of the board.

The entry level qualifications for this job are being a typist, one year experience with scheduling and retrieving medical documents, using computerized software such as Microsoft Office, maintain files and data electronically, translate medical terminology, provide customer service using oral and written communication skills and successfully completed a Bachelor’s Degree in the area of the specialty and 2-4 years of experience in the field or in a related

area.
The above job description and qualifications are for a contact representative starting off in the GS-4 level. This career has potential to maintain the same career name but move up with more duties and pay. At the GS-5 level, the contact representative will do the same as a GS-4 but will independently complete contacts that involve questions on which they have received adequate training or which are clearly covered by guidelines or by clear-cut, established procedures. A GS-5 contact representative will determine if the soldier meet qualifications by verifying their documents, explain the criteria or benefits, review the guidelines and records, initiate action to finding missing documents, correct discrepancies and are trained to interpret guidelines and laws and work more alone without supervision. As a GS-10, the contact representative counsels individuals regarding their specific goals, needs, and plans. The GS-10 contact representative is responsibility for public relations and program coordination contacts with key organizations and institutions to enlist their cooperation in achieving the goals of the agency program. The GS-10 contact representatives meet with local leaders, school officials, hospital administrators, officers of professional societies, labor union leaders, officers of community service clubs, spokesmen of community action groups, journalists and editors, or other community leaders to explore the potential for participation by the organization in one or more phases of the agency program such as job placement and training for disabled or disadvantaged individuals, aid in caring for ill or mentally ill persons (OMP).
The federal salary for a contact representative is between $25,669 to $50,932. This is a nice medium for a career in health and human service. As you see, you will not get rich with this career but the services you provide will be priceless to the service members that are seeking resources to help them transition into the civilian life and workforce.
This job is working with the military population. The military is one of the biggest cultural and diverse community around. “The US [military] has developed its own culture, which allows it to pursue a variety of challenges that it must face”(Howard). You will come in contact with people from all over the world that have different cultures, nationalities and values. It is important to always remain professional and to try and understand the client regardless of their background. The military also have zero tolerance for any type of discrimination. As a HHS worker, we have to realize that this group of people have moved around more than the average person, seen things that are worse than war movies and saw friends die in front of them. This is a culture that need as much health services as they can get. They are used to mission first and putting themselves last. It is our duty to make sure they are taken care of when transitioning to the civilian world. Your clients may seem “normal” on the outside but is suffering from PTSD, anxiety, depression, traumatic brain injury. They may also be missing a limb or two. Again the military culture is very different than the civilian sector and it takes a strong, positive person to care for them.
Personally there are a few soldiers that I myself currently know that life has been changed for the better because of a contact representative. When it’s time for the soldier to end their service term, they’re going through a lot of emotional, mental and physical feelings that sometimes they don’t know to ask or care about services that are available until it’s too late. My husband was medical discharged. Or biggest fear was how we are going to live and pay our bills. Everyone knows that the “military pay tends to be higher than civilian pay, and families may see a drop in income when a service member leaves the armed forces”(Hosek). We were scared until we met with his contact representative and she put us into contact with so many programs that we did not know exist. Now he is getting all the care he needs plus the compensation that is available to soldiers from different organizations are a blessing. That is the reason I decided I wanted to become a contact representative.
As you see, according to Ashford University webpage, a degree in Health and Human Services prepares you to provide health and human services to diverse populations of all ages (Ashford). This job will not make you rich but it would give you the satisfaction of knowing you helped a service member receive the benefits they are eligible to receive after their military career. You as a contact representative won’t make tons of money but knowing you are the advocate and the link that tie the service member to all the resources that are available to them should make your position feel like you are the riches person in the world by taking care of the best people in the world: The US Armed Forces Personnel. You have the ability to make sure they have the resources, now make sure they use them!