The United States Department of Health and Human Services provides comprehensive mediation and advocacy services for people who have questions and concerns about their health care. According to HHS.gov, mediation services are made available to those who want to resolve a dispute; usually, this happens between an individual and their health care provider or Medicare (HHS, 2011). Extensive options are given, including contacts for Health & Human Services representatives who can help with mediation; the mediation process is also detailed thoroughly. Mediation and advocacy are combined in the form of training that the Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) Division provides; this allows the patient requiring mediation to effectively represent themselves and advocate for their interests during the mediation process. By offering these services, HHS guarantees that the mediation is performed with the most level playing field on the part of the grievant.
The West Virginia Advocates are committed to providing West Virginians who have disabilities the proper representation. They act as advocates and protectors of their interests, and "ensure that West Virginians with disabilities have access to the same opportunities afforded all members of society, and can live full, productive lives, totally integrated into their communities with as much self-direction and independence as possible" (2011). One of their advocacy initiatives is to support projects and activities that can have a positive impact on disability groups and research, collaborating with them to gather resources and personnel toward that end. They also provide information about additional programs and can refer people seeking help to those programs, if so desired. They can also provide representation and mediation during litigation and administrative hearings.
The Volunteers of America - Northern New England provide mediation services for a number of individuals and entities, focusing often on family disputes. In their list of services, they offer 40-hour certificate training, allowing people to become successful mediators in their own right. If someone wishes to further their education and expertise as a mediator, they also offer specialty courses toward that end. In addition to that, they have their own staff of volunteer mediators who will agree to preside over meetings over any issue, between individuals or between an individual and a business, and so on. In general, they recognize conflict as something that inevitably happens with everyone at some point in their lives; as such, they see the need for an impartial party to make sure that the arguments are not one sided. This is the essence of mediation, and this service's focus is on mediation education, arming people with the ability to become successful mediators.
As in all things and all conflicts between people, I feel that the mediation and advocacy services provided by these organizations is needed and appropriate. In the case of health and human services, people need to be represented in matters pertaining to their health; if they are short-shrifted by their insurance company, or receive inadequate care, they need representation. The West Virginia Volunteers' target audience are those with disabilities, a particularly vulnerable group who may require additional assistance making sure their interests are represented fairly. With these things in mind, I feel that the websites and services that I investigated provide adequate services to those who need them, in the fields of advocacy and mediation.
References
HHS. (2011). Mediation. HHS.gov. Retrieved from
http://www.hhs.gov/dab/divisions/adr/mediation/process.html.
Volunteers of America - Northern New England. (2011). Mediation Services. VIANNE.org.
Retrieved from http://www.voanne.org/Services/Mediation.aspx.
West Virginia Advocates. (2011). Services. WVAdvocates.org. Retrieved from
http://wvadvocates.org/services/.
