SF City Workers Fed Up With Low Staffing, Wages, Union Busting Privatization & Corruption

Privatization Of Healthcare Through "Non-profits" Creates Chaos & Waste

Where are the empty treatment beds in SF? The health department wants to find out SF


Trisha Thadani Sep. 23, 2019 Updated: Sep. 23, 2019 8:24 p.m.
https://www.sfchronicle.com/politics/article/Where-are-the-empty-treatment-beds-in-SF-The-14462843.php?psid=onZlk


Progress Foundation co-op resident Melanie Brandt stands in her room at a Progress Foundation co-op in the Oceanview district on Monday, May 20, 2018 in San Francisco, Calif.
Photo: Lea Suzuki / The Chronicle 2018
San Francisco health officials are rolling out a plan to fix a confounding problem: Many treatment beds in the city sit empty every night, despite thousands of people struggling with homelessness, mental illness and drug addiction on the streets.

Mayor London Breed and Dr. Anton Nigusse Bland, the city’s director of mental health reform, plan to launch an online tool that will show, in real time, which of San Francisco’s hundreds of treatment programs have open slots. The lack of a centralized database to track open beds has made it more difficult for those seeking help to get it.

While the database won’t solve the many other hurdles people face in trying to get care for mental health and substance abuse, Nigusse Bland hopes it will at least add more transparency to the system.


“It will answer the question, ‘Where are the treatment beds, and what do I need to get into one of those?’” said Nigusse Bland. “People need to know when these resources are available.”

The rollout comes as the city’s public health department faces heightened criticism over its behavioral health care system and how it uses its existing resources. The department faced intense scrutiny last month when news surfaced that about 40 long-term mental health treatment beds at S.F. General Hospital’s campus had been unused since 2018. The Chronicle then found that empty beds have been pervasive around the city — beyond those at the public hospital.
SF counts 4,000 homeless, addicted and mentally ill, but...
Nigusse Bland said the department has been working on addressing the vacancies, and the new tool — which he hopes will launch in November — is just one step toward fixing those issues. He said when short-term residential treatment providers have a vacancy, they will immediately report it to the Behavioral Health Access Center, which will then update the public database. Anyone, including case managers and clients, will be able to access the information online.

The database will start tracking programs that offer withdrawal management and substance use treatment, and then eventually move to mental health treatment programs. When it is complete, the database will show how many of the city’s 350 short-term behavioral health treatment beds are available on a daily basis.
“It will help reduce vacancies overall because we can update it in real time,” he said. “This is going to be a robust change for the system.”


San Francisco’s behavioral health care system is disparate and disjointed, and difficult for many to navigate. It’s made up of hundreds of different treatment programs, most of which are run by nonprofits. Some programs are for drug detox or mental health issues, while others are for both. There are programs just for women, just for men, or exclusively for those with children.

Adding to the complexity is that there’s no centralized database to track open beds. Case managers say they waste hours calling around to different treatment programs trying to find a slot for their client. Some clients — many of them homeless, mentally ill and drug addicted — just wander over to a treatment program, only to be turned away at the door.

“People just assume the beds are full,” said Lizz Cady, a case manager in the Tenderloin.

But sometimes, that’s not the case. There were several nights this year where there were between 27 and 70 open beds across three programs run by HealthRight 360, a large addiction treatment program, according to data shared with The Chronicle this month. Two other major nonprofits in the city — Progress Foundation and PRC Baker Places — say they also struggle to fill all of their beds on a given night.


There’s a range of reasons behind the empty beds, from staffing shortages to arduous intake processes that can sometimes last up to a day and a half. Other times, facilities intentionally leave beds open for clients who are expected to arrive within the next few days. Drug treatment programs, such as HealthRight 360, were particularly impacted when the city opted into a new federal- and state-funded substance use treatment that increased paperwork and altered entry requirements for certain clients.

Lauren Kahn, a spokeswoman for HealthRight 360, said she does not have enough details to know how the new tool will help the facility address the other admitting hurdles — but she welcomes the innovation.

Kahn said HealthRight 360 has been able to whittle down its vacancies as staff members have figured out how to work with the new requirements over the past few months. The nonprofit is also working to expand its intake hours beyond normal business hours, as people often need treatment at night or on the weekends.

“It’s not going to be the magic key for us, but we are interested in learning more details about this project and seeing how it works and how people use it,” she said. “Once you centralize this information, you can show where the gaps are in the system and lay groundwork for more fixes in the future.”


Cady, the Tenderloin case manager, said the new system is a “positive step” that would save her a lot of time in placing clients.

“This will save me a 10-minute hold, two transfers and another hold while someone figures out who to talk to — only to learn at the end that there are no beds available,” she said.

But, she said, the city needs to go beyond just reporting vacancies.

“If we can do this, maybe we can start tracking who was referred and why they didn’t get a bed,” she said. “If the bed information is public, it will put pressure on the agencies.”

This announcement is one of the first major rollouts by Nigusse Bland, who was hired by Breed earlier this year to recommend changes to the city’s mental health care system.

Nigusse Bland announced earlier this month that there are 4,000 people on S.F. streets struggling from a trifecta of homelessness, mental illness and drug addiction. When he unveiled the data, however, he still did not know how many more beds were needed nor how many more employees it would take to provide care. He also did not have a timeline for any improvements on the city’s streets.

Broken Care: About this series

San Francisco spends nearly $400 million a year on mental health and addiction treatment, but thousands of people in crisis are still without sufficient care. In this ongoing series, Chronicle journalists investigate the failures of this complicated, costly system and explore solutions to the crisis.

But, he said, being able to see where the systemic gaps are is a critical step.

“The goal is to reduce the amount of empty beds,” he said. “This is really about us being able to use our data to make a decision about where we need to add more services.”


Trisha Thadani is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: tthadani [at] sfchronicle.com Twitter: @TrishaThadani

SF HealthRIGHT 360

http://www.healthright360.org/san-francisco


HealthRIGHT 360 (HR 360) provides a diverse array of programs and services in San Francisco. Haight Ashbury Free Clinics (HAFC) opened it’s doors in 1967 to provide free medical care to those who were uninsured or underinsured. As a response to the Summer of Love, Walden House opened it’s first residential substance use disorder program in 1969. Bill Graham and HAFC joined together in 1972 to create Rock Medicine and provide medical care to individuals at concerts and other large events. Lyon-Martin Health Services has been offering nonjudgmental, affordable health care to women, lesbians and transgender people in San Francisco since 1979. Asian American Recovery Services (AARS), another HR360 agency, began providing culturally sensitive treatment for Asian and Pacific Islander residents in San Francisco in 1985. In 2015, HR 360 began operating Tenderloin Health Services, a primary medical clinic that was previously managed by GLIDE.

In San Francisco, HR 360 has fifteen distinct locations where we operate four primary medical clinics, seven residential programs, four outpatient/day reporting centers, two gender responsive jail programs, co-occurring programming, case management services, outreach and prevention programs as well as employment, housing and educational assistance. Together, these programs increase San Francisco’s diverse communities' access to a continuum of care that increases their capacities to lead healthy lives.

In August of 2017, we opened our new Integrated Care Center at 1563 Mission Street. The ICC provides an innovative healthcare model to serve all San Franciscans, but primarily designed to treat low-income patients, and the harder-to-reach homeless individual. With five floors and 50,000 square feet of space, clients are able to receive comprehensive treatment services under one roof: primary medical care, dentistry (coming January 2018), mental health services, substance use disorder treatment, housing referral, employment opportunities, adult education, as well as a dining room, and pharmacy (coming January 2018).

For more information on our programs and services in San Francisco, please visit the agency and program links at the bottom of the page.

Service Areas:

Asian Pacific Islander Programming
Co-Occurring Disorders
HIV/AIDS Integrative Services
LGBT Healthcare
In-Custody Treatment
Mental Health Services
Outpatient Services for Substance Abuse Treatment and Co-Occurring Disorders
Primary Medical Care
Substance Use Disorder Treatment
Transgender Health
Gender Responsive Treatment
Prevention Services for Youth and Young Adults
Residential
Populations Served: African American, API, Co-Occurring Disorders, HIV/AIDS, Homeless, Incarcerated, LGBTQ, MSM, Parolees, Probationers, Women & Children, Youth & Young Adults
San Francisco Agencies


Walden House
Serving clients with mental health and substance use disorder issues at various residential and outpatient facilities throughout California, including in-custody treatment programs and services for people transitioning back into their communities.

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Haight Ashbury Free Clinics
Haight Ashbury Free Clinics offers primary medical care at two locations, and is guided by the principle that "Healthcare is a Right, Not a Privilege."

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Asian American Recovery Services
Asian American Recovery Services (AARS) provides an array of culturally competent services to the Asian and Pacific Islander and other ethnically diverse communities of the San Francisco Bay Area.

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Lyon Martin Health Services
Lyon-Martin Health Services provides excellent health care to heterosexual women, bisexual women, lesbians and transgender people in a safe and compassionate environment, with sensitivity to sexual orientation and gender identity; all services are regardless of ability to pay.

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Tenderloin Health Services
Tenderloin Health Services provides quality, compassionate integrated healthcare onsite in San Francisco, placing our patients at the center of care to address total health and wellness using an integrated service model.

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Rock Medicine
Setting the standard in non-judgmental event medicine.

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HealthRIGHT 360
HealthRIGHT 360 gives hope, builds health, and changes lives for people in need by providing comprehensive, integrated, compassionate care that includes primary medical care, mental health services, and substance use disorder treatment.

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Women's Community Clinic
The mission of the Women’s Community Clinic is to improve the health and well-being of women and girls. We believe preventive, educational care is essential to lifelong health and that all women deserve excellent health care, regardless of their ability to pay. We work hard to ensure that each client feels comfortable and safe using her voice to direct the care she receives.



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BOARD OF DIRECTORS(ACTIVE TAB) FOUNDATION BOARD

Bryan B.C.I. Graham
Board Chair

Bryan B.C.I. Graham is the Senior Facility Engineer Manager for Gap Inc. corporate offices. As graduate of Penn State Architectural Engineering program, he has worked as a mechanical engineering consulting in the Bay area for various MEP consulting firms before coming the in house engineer for Gap Inc. corporate facilities. He spends his time designing, building, managing and evaluating potential corporate facilities.



James McElwee
Board Vice Chair

James McElwee is an independent venture capitalist with more than 35 years of experience in venture capital and private equity.

He has been a board member of numerous private and public companies. Mr. McElwee was formerly the Treasurer of SFJAZZ responsible for the construction of the SFJAZZ Center. He currently is a member of the Board of Trustees of Claremont McKenna College and a member of the Wharton Entrepreneurship Advisory Board.


Phone Number
(610)768-3300
Universal Health Services, Inc. (UHS) is one of the nation's largest and most respected healthcare management companies, operating through its subsidiaries acute care hospitals, behavioral health facilities and ambulatory centers nationwide, in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Founded in 1978 by Alan B. Miller, Chairman and CEO, UHS...

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Paul Pitts
Board Secretary

Paul Pitts is an attorney who lives and works in San Francisco. In his professional life he advises health care providers and life science companies in regulatory matters and business transactions. Paul received his law degree from Tulane University and a Masters in Health Administration from the Tulane School of Public Health & Tropical Medicine. For over five years Paul served on the board of directors of the Women’s Community Clinic in San Francisco. He is an active member of the American Health Lawyers Association, the California Society for Healthcare Attorneys, the Purdue Alumni Association, and several other professional and community organizations.



Dr. Yener Balan
Board Member

Yener Balan, MD, FAPA is a board-certified psychiatrist and is currently the Executive Director of Behavioral Health for Kaiser Permanente, Northern California.

He provides health plan oversight and direction to the NCAL Behavioral Health Program as they develop an integrated model of 21st century behavioral health care – investing in technology, people and research to drive market leading performance; engaging members and families in quality improvement efforts; implementing processes that focus on proactive intervention and prevention; and engaging with organizations in the community to help shape the growth, education, and training of the behavioral health workforce.

He is a fellow of the American Psychiatric Association, has extensive years of experience working in high volume community emergency departments, is an expert on hospital operations, and has given lectures and workshops worldwide.

He is the bestselling author of the “Big Book of Emergency Department Psychiatry: A Guide to Patient Centered Operational Improvement.”

Dr. Balan was born and raised in New York City, and while he still misses the East Coast, has made a home for himself in Oakland, CA, where he lives with his wife and 6-year-old son.



Deborah Koski
Board Member

Debbie is a grantmaker with more than ten years of experience in affordable housing and nonprofit finance. She is currently the Housing Senior Program Officer at Tipping Point Community, where she invests in impactful nonprofits.

Most recently, Debbie was a Senior Investment Officer at Nonprofit Finance Fund, where she financed nonprofits across a wide range of sectors. She was also Assistant Vice President at Union Bank, and originated debt and equity financing for affordable housing development. She holds a B.A. and Masters in Public Policy from the University of California Berkeley.


Barbara Kostick, MD, FAAFP
Board Member

Dr. Kostick is a board certified family physician, who practiced in the Bay Area for over 35 years. She taught both Stanford and UCSF medical students. She was the first woman Chief of Staff (President) of Washington Hospital Medical Staff in Fremont, CA and the third woman to be president of the California Academy of Family Physicians.

She was on the Board of Directors of over 400 medical doctors to contract for healthcare services with the insurance industry. For over five years, she hosted original programming on various health matters and spoke on various medical topics. For over ten years, she participated and supervised a volunteer tattoo removal program. She was the national family physician representative in a CDC taskforce to reduce accidental overdoses in children under five years of age. To her, HealthRIGHT 360 presents an opportunity to continue her volunteering in a meaningful way.



Anji Mandavia
Board Member

Anji Mandavia is a partner at Mandavia Ephraim LLP. She has over 30 years’ experience as a business litigator, with a concentration in litigation related to the motion picture and television industries.

Anji has represented both plaintiffs and defendants in copyright and trademark infringement actions, and in breach of contract actions relating to motion picture and television production and distribution. She is a member of the Los Angeles County Bar Association, Beverly Hills Bar Association and the South Asian Bar Association of Southern California. She holds a B.A. of Philosophy from Stanford and a J.D from UC Berkeley.



Ann McClanathan
Board Member

Ann McClanathan is a retired health care executive with more than 30 years of diverse executive experience. Her previous corporate appointments in the insurance industry have included Chief Operating Officer, Executive Vice President of Administrative Operations, and Executive Vice President of Sales, Marketing and Customer Relations for major national companies. Following her career in the health insurance industry, Ann joined myStrength.com as their VP of Commercial Partnership Development.

Ann has served on Prototypes Board of Directors since 2008 and was the Prototypes Board Chair from 2010-2016. Ms. McClanathan received her Master’s in Business Administration from Pepperdine University and has a Bachelor of Arts in Sociology from Ithaca College. She has also completed the Non-Profit Leadership seminars sponsored by the Annenberg Foundation, Alchemy and Alchemy Plus.



Melyssa Mendoza
Board Member

Melyssa Mendoza has ten years of experience working with non-profits and women’s rights organizations.

Melyssa was an early member of Save Lyon Martin. Melyssa is also very active in the San Francisco bicycle community. She currently works at a Practice Fusion, a free web-based electronic health records platform. She holds a BA in Art History from Barnard College, Columbia University, and attended the University of California, Hastings College of the Law.



Karen E. Pointer
Board Member

Karen E. Pointer is a Partner with Lerman Pointer & Spitz LLP, an employment law and business litigation firm in Los Angeles. She regularly represents her clients in litigation through trial and before state and federal administrative agencies in matters involving claims of discrimination, harassment, wrongful termination, and wage and hour violations.

A Los Angeles native, Ms. Pointer is active in the community. In addition to the Board of HealthRIGHT 360, she serves on the Board of Directors of Boys & Girls Club of Metro Los Angeles and the African American Alumni Association of Loyola Marymount University. She is also a member of the Emeritus Council of the Los Angeles Regional Food Bank, having served for 8 years on the Food Bank’s Board of Directors. Ms. Pointer holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Biology from Loyola Marymount University and a Juris Doctor degree from UCLA School of Law.



Ramona Shewl
Board Member

Ramona Shewl is a Clinical Case Manager at Homeless Prenatal Program in San Francisco. She has worked there for over ten years in many different capacities, including as a Peer Mentor Advocate and an Aftercare Case Manager. Ramona works with clients to provide therapy, help navigate the child welfare system, secure stable housing, and find education and employment opportunities.

Ramona has her Master’s in Counseling and Psychology from Argosy University. Ramona also works at the Family Independence Initiative in San Francisco as a Lead Fellow to help low-income San Francisco families end the cycle of poverty and work on making social change. Ramona also serves on HealthRIGHT 360’s Community Advisory Council and is a proud Walden House Graduate of 2005.



Alex Pugh
Board Member

Alex Pugh joined the HealthRIGHT 360 Board of Directors in November 2018 after being a longtime supporter of the organization.

Alex Pugh is a partner at Lubin, Olson & Niewiadomski, LLP, practicing in its real estate, construction, finance and business law groups. Alex represents clients in a wide range of transactions, including debt and equity financing, real estate acquisitions and sales, real estate construction and development, commercial and industrial leasing and ground leases, workouts, mortgage loan repurchase transactions, and UCC and mortgage foreclosures.

Alex has a B.A. from Trinity College and a J.D. from Columbia University School of Law. Alex lives in San Francisco with his wife and two children. Alex was previously a member of the board of directors of Streetside Stories.



Diane Ireland
Board Member

Diane Ireland is the Head of Office Operations at Pliant Therapeutics, Inc., a biotechnology company developing breakthrough treatments for fibrotic diseases. Previously, Diane worked for Samsung Research America and Joie de Vivre Hospitality.

Diane has a Hospitality Management Degree from California Culinary Academy, a BS in Organizational Behavior from University of San Francisco, and an MBA from Saint Mary’s College. Diane served on the Alumni Board of Directors at USF for four years, and has served as President and Treasurer for her HOA.

Diane joined HeathRIGHT 360 Board of Directors in March, 2019 after being a longtime friend and supporter of the organization.


Leadership

Vitka Eisen, MSW, Ed.D
Chief Executive Officer

Vitka Eisen is the President and Chief Executive Officer of HealthRIGHT 360, a network of Federally Qualified Health Centers and one of the largest providers of behavioral health services to marginalized Californians. With over 30 years of experience in human services, she has dedicated her career to supporting people and communities struggling with addiction and incarceration through the provision of integrated, compassionate, and relevant care. Since being appointed to her current role in 2010, Vitka has led HealthRIGHT 360 through a series of mergers, growing the organization to serve over 36,000 people annually.

A frequent speaker on innovative clinical and business practices, Vitka serves on the boards of directors of the National Council for Behavioral Health, the California Association of Drug and Alcohol Program Executives, and the California Council of Community Behavioral Health Agencies. Vitka earned a MSW from San Francisco State University and a Doctorate from the Harvard Graduate School of Education. She is also a person in long term recovery from substance use disorder; having participated in treatment over 30 years ago at the agency she now leads.



Tony Duong
Chief Financial Officer

Tony oversees Financial Planning and Reporting, Human Resources, Food Services, and Facilities.

He holds a Masters in Accounting and a Bachelors in Business Administration with a concentration in Finance, both from Golden Gate University, and he has over ten years of experience in behavioral health and primary care nonprofit administration. Prior to joining HealthRIGHT 360,Tony was Interim Executive Director for Asian American Recovery Services and held various key positions within the organization.



Jegan Anandasakaran
Chief Operating Officer & Chief Information Officer

Jegan brings over 10 years of executive management experience specializing in both information technology systems and personnel development. He oversees the electronic medical record systems for primary care and behavioral health operations, network operations, software development, client tracking and reporting, fiscal billing and allocation reports. A true leader and mentor, Jegan has created a department (lauded for its excellence) through periodic leadership trainings, staff retreats, and evidence-based assessment tools. Known as a problem solver and systems thinker, Jegan is often pulled into a myriad of projects both in and out of IT. He has been recognized by Microsoft as an Early Achiever MCSE and holds a B.A. from UC Davis. He joined HealthRIGHT 360 in 2003.



Dr. Ana Valdés
Chief Healthcare Officer

Dr. Ana Valdés oversees services to related to the whole health of all HealthRIGHT 360 clients throughout California, designing effective linkages to healthcare resources, even where HealthRIGHT 360 is not directly operating medical clinics.

Dr. Valdés' career has been characterized by a consistent focus on advocacy for low-income patients, improvements in community health education, and a deep understanding of health policy issues. Ana graduated from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro and Tufts School of Medicine, and her early career as a doctor included work in rural New Mexico, Mexico, and Guatemala. During the course of her professional activities she has had engagements with the Community Advisory Committee for St. Francis Memorial Hospital, the Harvard School of Public Health, and the California Healthcare Foundation Healthcare Leadership Training Program. Her language skills include fluency in both Spanish and Vietnamese, as well as proficiency in Portuguese. Dr. Valdés oversees all services related to the whole health of all HealthRIGHT 360 clients throughout California, including behavioral health, medical care, in custody treatment, and Re-Entry services.



Demetrius Andreas
Vice President of Community and Aftercare Programs.

Demetrius has worked for over 30 years in community programs with an emphasis towards criminal justice populations. He is responsible for providing executive direction and operational oversight for various HealthRIGHT 360’s criminal justice programs spanning across the State. These programs include STOP (Specialized Treatment for Optimized Programming) for Program Area Six, based in San Diego, The Los Angeles Probation Department’s AB109 population, the Los Angeles County Jail Health Services, the Contra Costa East-Central Network and others. Demetrius is a Certified Clinical Supervisor and Criminal Justice professional with expertise in the development, administration, planning and quality assurance substance use, mental health and behavioral issues to the incarcerated and post incarcerated population.



Jack Cheng
Vice President of Healthcare Services

Jack Cheng is the Vice President of Healthcare Services and oversees the operations of the five health centers as well as leading the clinics EMR/EHR implementation and expansion in the Southern California region.

Mr. Cheng began working at HealthRIGHT 360 first as a volunteer then later as a medical fiscal analyst and Healthcare Systems Manager. Mr. Cheng received his BA from the University of Kansas in Political Science/Public Policy and a BS from California State University - East Bay in Medical Microbiology and participated in the Clinic Leadership Institute’s Emerging Leaders program with Blue Shield and UCSF.



Wayne Garcia
Vice President of Criminal Justice Programs

Wayne administers and directs a portfolio of in-custody and parolee programs. Wayne is an active member of the senior leadership team, managing criminal justice programs throughout California. He has held several positions of increasing authority since joining the organization (then Walden House) in 1996. Wayne is a Registered Addiction Specialist and a National Certified Addiction Counselor, and is a proud Walden House graduate and success story, having completed treatment in 1995. In 2014, Wayne was awarded the Latino Heritage Award for Community Wellness from the San Francisco District Attorney's Office.




Shabana Siegel
Vice President of Philanthropy

Shabana brings 18 years of experience in fundraising in the San Francisco Bay Area to HealthRIGHT 360. She was most recently the Vice President of Philanthropy at Institute on Aging. Shabana has always had a passion for helping the most vulnerable and marginalized in the community. For the last 18 years, she has served as Congregation Emanuel-El's volunteer leader for the winter nights of cooking and serving 100 dinners a night for homeless men at churches in San Francisco. Shabana is originally from England, where she studied at Lancaster University and received a combined Honours degree in Psychology and Italian.



April Torres
Vice President of Behavioral Health, Southern California

April Torres has worked in the field of behavioral health since 1991 and has extensive experience developing programs specifically designed for women. April is a proud graduate of Prototypes and a true success story. After completing treatment, she began her career as an overnight counselor with Prototypes. More than two decades later, April went on to receive her bachelor’s degree in sociology from Pitzer College and her master’s degree in social work from California State University, San Bernardino. Eventually, her hard work and dedication led her to become Vice President of Integration at Prototypes, overseeing residential programming and building the agency’s integrated care program.

Today, April applies her expertise toward ensuring the provision of high-quality, integrated services as HealthRIGHT 360’s Vice President of Behavioral Health for our Southern California programs.



Trina White, PHR, SHRM-CP
Vice President of Human Resources

Trina joined HealthRIGHT 360 in January 2019. With over twenty years of global HR leadership experience across various industries, Trina has previously served as the Vice President of Talent Resources at Cortland Partners and led the HR function at Everbridge as their Sr. Director of Global Human Resources. A passionate and active member in the HR community, Trina has been serving as a subject matter expert for the HR Certification Institute for the past 13 years and loves giving back to the profession she finds so rewarding.



Denise Williams
Vice President of Corporate Compliance

Denise Williams oversees Quality Assurance, CQI, Licensing & Certification, and serves as HealthRIGHT 360's HIPAA Privacy Officer.

Previous to her current position, she provided program oversight, quality service, and staff development within the San Francisco system of public health services. Denise holds a B.A. in Human Development from CSU - East Bay.


50,000 Square Feet of Integrated Care
S.F.'s low-income residents can now access everything from dental treatment to computer classes at a new center on Mission and South Van Ness.
http://www.sfweekly.com/news/news-news/50000-square-feet-of-integrated-care/
Nuala Sawyer
Wed Aug 30th, 2017
HealthRIGHT 360’s new Integrated Care Center on Mission and Van Ness. (Courtesy HealthRight 360)
David had served 26 years of a life sentence in Folsom State Prison when he was released on parole in February.

“It was a spectacular, miraculous experience,” he says of his time at Walden House, a five-story mansion-turned-residential facility on Hayes Street that helps the formerly incarcerated integrate back into society. “I was out, first of all. And the way they welcome you is ‘Hello, family,’ and ‘Welcome home.’ I walked in there wide-eyed, like a child. And they made my transition back to society very easy. But I also learned about things I still need to work on.”

Walden House is just one of a handful of mental- and physical-health organizations under the umbrella of HealthRIGHT 360, an integrated healthcare nonprofit that treats more than 38,000 people each year through Lyon-Martin, the Haight Ashbury Free Clinics, Asian American Recovery Services, Tenderloin Health Services and recently, the Women’s Community Clinic.


Its reach is multifaceted and multicultural, and it’s about to get bigger: This week, a five-story Integrated Care Center (ICC) opened on Mission Street and South Van Ness Avenue, more than doubling HealthRIGHT 360’s clinic space. Now, new patients can see physicians, dentists, addiction specialists, acupuncturists, and therapists without leaving the building. A computer lab, a closet full of interview clothes, housing and employment resources, and literary classes are also on site — so if someone needs to get a cavity filled and have someone look over a resume, they can do both in one visit. And the center offers a one-stop-shop for people like David, who needed assistance with reintegration, housing, finding a job, and psychological counseling.

“By offering integrated services all under one roof, we simplify access to care and reduce the compounding barriers preventing many from receiving vital services,” says HealthRIGHT 360 CEO Dr. Vitka Eisen.



For years, HealthRIGHT 360 had operated out of a large red building adjacent to a highway overpass on Mission Street at Duboce Avenue. But demand increased and the space grew tight. Around five years ago a search began for a new location. and 1563 Mission St. fit the bill. It was large and in a central area well-served by public transit, but it wasn’t vacant or for sale. Undeterred, the team met with the building’s owner, who’d been renting it out for clothing manufacturing, despite receiving multi-million dollar offers from developers. In 2014, a deal was finalized, and over the next three years, the building was seismically upgraded and completely renovated to accommodate everything from offices for infectious disease specialists to private family counseling rooms.

The project was not cheap, and truly took a village to build: $51 million came from a 2016 New Market Tax Credit Allocation, and a capital campaign raised $6 million. Local corporations — Kaiser, Ramsell and Sutter Health/CPMC — donated a few million. Twenty-one private gifts ranging from $50,000 to $100,000 were granted for the space.

The fundraising paid off: Each facet of the new, 50,000-square-foot ICC has been carefully considered. It’s a green building, earning LEED Gold Certified status. Bright red walls and an open atrium greet clients as they walk in. The design is modern and spacious, but not cold — plants and comfy sofas decorate the waiting rooms.


Neatly organized clothes for HealthRIGHT 360 clients to use for interviews fill a closet in the new ICC.
While the decor is comforting, it’s the services that really impress. The dental clinic, for example, is new.

“We know that dental health is linked to improved health outcomes for all of us,” Eisen says. “Our clients have not often had access to good dental care. But we also see it as a part of human dignity. If you have bad teeth, it’s hard to get a job. It’s hard to go to your kid’s parent-teacher conference and not feel embarrassment or shame. When you invest in dental care, you’re helping lift people’s lives in so many ways.”

As part of its integrated-care package, each new client is assigned a team of healthcare professionals, who work together to ensure that all treatment plans — be they addiction services, mental-health counseling, or social work — are done in conjunction with one another.

“Typically, our patients have complex needs,” Eisen explains. “Overall, about 80 percent of our patients are not safely or stably housed. Their situations can be complicated.”

Stephanie was one of those patients. In April 2016, she was pregnant, living in a tent in a homeless encampment on Shotwell Street. Homeless Prenatal pulled Stephanie and her boyfriend, John Visor, who has since died, off the streets and set them up at the Mission Street Navigation Center. When she gave birth to her son on June 1, he was taken by Child Protective Services, who gave her 20 days to enter a residential recovery center. If she succeeded, she’d continue to have parenting rights. If not, he’d be surrendered for adoption.

“I couldn’t let that happen,” she said. “I’d already lost one of my children — my third son — to adoption. It was pretty much time to put on my big-girl pants. I walked into HealthRIGHT, and I wanted to leave. I thought about it, but I knew I couldn’t.”

Stephanie worked with a number of teams to get back on her feet. After hopping around different rehabilitation and temporary housing situations, she finally qualified for Section 8 housing this month. Child Protective Services wrapped up her case, and she regained custody of her son. She got a job with the Clean City Coalition and has reunited with her extended family out of state. She has a sober sponsor and now plans on taking college classes online to become an addiction counselor. And Stephanie has just filled out an application for a job at Women’s HOPE — another HealthRIGHT 360 program, which helps low-income women and mothers manage their mental health and find help for addiction.

“I have so many people who are for me, and still help me to this day,” she says. “They’ve never given up on me. I’m so lucky, and I’m glad I finally woke up and started realizing it.”

“She’s an absolute miracle,” said her former sponsor Nancy, who was influential in getting Stephanie off the street. “I didn’t have a lot of hope for you in the beginning.”

“The hardest part was just stopping [drug use],” Stephanie says. “Putting it down and making that commitment for a better life. But everyone deserves that life. If I can do it, anyone can do it.”

Stephanie is the poster child for HealthRIGHT 360, but she is just one of many with complicated situations who will walk through the doors of the ICC each day.

“I often talk about us being a beacon of hope, a reminder that San Francisco is still committed,”