Welcome to Care Guides of Castlight, a series of personal profiles of Castlight Care Guides. Our Care Guides are a diverse group of clinical, billing, and benefits professionals who help our members navigate the healthcare system, maximize their benefits, and manage their health. We are excited to introduce you to them and to the important work they do!

Eleandro Miller loves going to work—not just because he enjoys what he does, but because he wants to be surrounded by his colleagues as much as possible.

“It’s very convenient to work from home,” Eleandro says. “But we create excuses to go to the office. I know it sounds weird, but we do. It’s fun to be around everyone here.”

In 2013, Eleandro moved to the United States from Brazil to take English classes, which he did for the first few years he lived here. He chose Utah because he already had some friends in Salt Lake City, and he felt the transition would be easier if he knew at least a few people. In 2016, he got a job in customer support at a beauty and wellness company.

About three years into this role, Eleandro’s friend reached out to tell him about Castlight, which opened its Center of Excellence in Salt Lake City in 2020. He wasn’t ready to switch jobs yet, though—he still wanted to build up more experience, specifically with the English language. But that year, he kept hearing from various friends and mutual acquaintances that Castlight was a great people-oriented company with a wonderful culture, which was very important to Eleandro. “At your job, you want to feel like you are part of something, part of a family or friend group,” he says.

Plus, the Center of Excellence had plans to keep growing, meaning Eleandro could really grow his career with the company, and he also liked the idea of helping people better navigate their personal healthcare journey. So, in July 2020, he officially joined the Castlight team as a customer support specialist. During the first six months, he contributed significantly to Castlight’s VaccineFinder project—which he was absolutely thrilled to be invited to be a part of—and in February 2021, he officially transitioned into a Care Guide role.

For Eleandro, the best part about being a Care Guide is the opportunity to provide members with the answers they need, but he also loves how his fellow Care Guides help him do just that. Though each Care Guide may communicate with members one-on-one, the entire team—which consists of non-clinical benefits and claims experts (like Eleandro) and clinical professionals—is available behind the scenes to support each other and deliver the best experience possible to each member.

When a member reaches out to Eleandro, he takes as many notes as he can. Then, even if he thinks he knows the answer, he goes to the team to start brainstorming and to make sure he’s not missing anything. “It brings me tremendous satisfaction and happiness to be able to come back to the member with a comprehensive answer,” he says. “I want everyone to leave with more than what they were expecting, with more than just a good result.”

One time, a member named Jordan* called in to inquire about a $2,000 healthcare bill he received. He was unsure what he was being charged for and why. After gathering all of the necessary information, Eleandro told Jordan he’d get to the bottom of it and would report back. Eleandro played a three-month game of phone tag with Jordan’s health insurance and the provider who had submitted the claim, calling someone new or to follow up every day or two. Finally, it was discovered that there was a billing error—the service had been coded incorrectly. In the end, Jordan owed nothing at all. “He was so happy, so relieved,” says Eleandro.

Eleandro also makes a point to go beyond resolving the member’s initial issue, making sure they’re aware of all the benefits available to them and trying to uncover any other health needs they may have. For example, a few months ago a member named Lily* reached out to ask about missing rewards points. Eleandro quickly solved the issue for her, but the conversation didn’t stop there. Instead, he asked her questions like:

• Are you happy with your physician?
• Do you need help finding or connecting with any specialists?
• Is there anything you’d like to chat to one of our nurses about?

As it turns out, Lily did have a concern: She loved watching sports games on TV, but every time she did she found herself overindulging on junk food and soda. She wanted to talk to someone who could help her improve her nutrition habits. As a result, Eleandro connected Lily with one of Castlight’s clinical Care Guides, a nurse named Caren who has a health education background. Lily and Caren ended up setting some healthy eating goals, and Caren also connected her to some nutrition programs that were available to Lily.

“Solving that one problem became the gateway for solving other health problems for the member,” Eleandro says. “People are more receptive when they feel like you’re not wasting their time or trying to sell them anything. Ultimately, we just care about the member’s health.”

Another thing Eleandro really likes about being a Care Guide is that, sometimes, he gets to help Portuguese or Spanish-speaking members. Because English isn’t his first language either, he knows what it feels like to be a “language outsider,” and he’s really happy he can help some members in this way.

When Eleandro isn’t working, he and his husband, Allen, love to have friends over. Recently, they hosted a potluck for around 100 gay men in their community. They also love to get in the car and go on drives, often ending up in Palm Springs. “I love road trips,” he says. “It’s just us, the desert, and nothing else for 12 hours.”

*Names have been changed for confidentiality.