Survival to success - Father Joe's Villages

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6 Village News, spring 2008 St. Vincent de Paul Village FAST SAMHSA grant makes new outreach possible staff team assists tenants with mental illness By Julie DeDe Program staff members at St. Vincent de Paul Village have been busy creating infrastructure and developing a team of professionals in support of the exciting, groundbreaking five-year $1.8 million grant received in 2007 from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA). The grant enables staff to implement an Assertive Community Treatment (ACT) team approach to support tenants with mental illness living in Villa Harvey Mandel and Village Place apartments. Contract Compliance Manager Angela Bull and I attended the SAMHSA grantee meeting in December in Washington, D.C. We spent three days meeting with other Services in Supportive Housing grantees and various SAMHSA staff members learning about grant requirements and the services that will be offered by the other grantees. SAMHSA is committed to creating a community among the grantees so that they can share resources and knowledge, so we had several opportunities to get to know the staff from the other programs. The Village’s new ACT team consists of a team leader, two licensed mental health clinicians, three mental health specialists, a nurse, a psychiatrist, a peer support specialist and an administrative assistant. We are happy to welcome several existing Village staff to the ACT team as mental health specialists including two case managers that have been working with the tenants of Villa Mandel and Village Place for several years. Jeannie Edwards and Jennifer Gillespie have established relationships with many of the tenants, which can prove critical when introducing the new program to the tenants. We are also pleased to welcome two veterans from our Village Family Health Center (VFHC) to the team. Dr. David Folsom, assistant medical director in the clinic who has been working on campus for more than 10 years, is the psychiatrist for the team. Michelle Whitney, a nurse who has worked in the VFHC for three years, also brings continuity and understanding of the population and the unique features of the health center. Whitney will be splitting her time between the ACT project and our VCARE project. Rene Hendricks joined the team as administrative assistant after working for two years as an administrative assistant for Residential Services. In addition to welcoming seasoned Village staff we are pleased to have three other staff on board. Raul VILLAGE NEWS Patricia M. Walsh Mike Ortiz and Cecily Quinn Swanson of Stepping Stone. FACTS Members of the assertive Community Treatment team at the Village, from front: Katie L. McGinness, mental health clinician; Julie DeDe, director of Social Services; Jeannie Edwards, mental health specialist; Andrea Holderman, peer support specialist; Michelle Whitney, RN, ACT and VCARE nurse; Rene Hendricks, administrative assistant; Jennifer Gillespie, mental health specialist; Raul Valdez, mental health clinician. Not pictured is David Folsom, psychiatrist. Valdez is a psychologist working toward his license. He has an extensive background in substance abuse treatment. Katie McGinness is a licensed clinical social worker who most recently worked as a therapist at Vista Hill. Finally, Andrea For the fifth year, the Village was the site of a resource fair sponsored by the Metropolitan Area Providers of Social Services. Held yearly before the closing of area winter shelters, the resource fair provides to individuals living in tents information on assistance available in the community. “The fair is also a forum where social service providers throughout the city can exchange information and learn about other programs in the community,” says st. Vincent de Paul Village in downtown san Diego offers a continuum of care for people to regain their lives. The Village provides long- and short-term housing for singles and families, family literacy classes, job skills, career counseling, medical and dental care, mental health counseling, recovery services, children’s services and an on-site elementary school. what is assertive Community Treatment? Holderman has joined the team as the peer support specialist. Staff hosted a barbecue in December to introduce the program to tenants. The event was attended by 28 tenants; 14 voiced a desire to enroll in the program. VILLAGE NEWS Patricia M. Walsh Assertive Community Treatment (ACT) is a team treatment approach designed to provide comprehensive, community-based psychiatric treatment, rehabilitation, and support to persons with serious and persistent mental illness such as schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorder, or bipolar disorder. The ACT model of care evolved out of the work of Arnold Marx, M.D., Leonard Stein, and Mary Ann Test, Ph.D., in the late 1960s. ACT has been widely implemented in the United States, Canada, and England. The Department of Veterans Affairs has also implemented ACT across the United States. A team of professionals whose backgrounds and training include social work, rehabilitation, counseling, nursing and psychiatry provide Assertive Community Treatment services. Among the services ACT teams provide are: case management; initial and ongoing assessments; psychiatric services; employment and housing assistance; family support and education; substance abuse services; and other services and supports critical to an individual's ability to live successfully in the community. An evidence based practice, ACT has been extensively researched and evaluated and has proven clinical and cost effectiveness. Resource fair held for community, agencies We’ve enrolled six clients to date and plan to enroll 15 clients per month until we reach our maximum of 57 clients. Julie DeDe is director of Social Services at St. Vincent de Paul Village. St. Vincent de Paul Village Guest Services Program Manager Cheryl Deblois. Other agencies participating included: Salvation Army, Jorgensen Law, Legal Aid-HAP, Senior Community Center, Salvation Army – Family Services, San Deigo-211, Family Health Centers, Friend to Friend, Self-Reliance House, Community Resource Center, Second Chance and Stepping Stone.
Dr. McCahill receives Physician Humanitarian Award Medical director honored by state By Patricia M. walsh Margaret E. McCahill, M.D., has received the 2008 Physician Humanitarian Award from the Medical Board of the State of California. Medical director of the St. Vincent de Paul Village Family Health Center, Dr. McCahill received the honor for her “many years of outstanding service to indigent patients in San Diego County.” “Dr. McCahill’s … ability to influence other health care providers to continue to care for the underserved is a model worthy of emulation across the state,” says Barbara Johnston, executive director of the Medical Board of California. “The committee was particularly Teresa Simms VILLAGE NEWS Patricia M. Walsh Tuberculosis education impressed with McCahill’s program that sends graduates of (UCSD's) residency-training program to medically underserved areas, and her similar training of other health care professionals.” Dr. McCahill is the first sole woman recipient of the Physician Humanitarian Award. The award was made by the Physician Recognition Committee of the Medical Board of California. The award recognizes the demonstration of excellence by individual physicians and/or groups of physicians who strive to improve access and to fill gaps in the health care delivery system for underserved populations in California, or who have advanced the health care status of the public through innovation and commitment to medical education, or who have otherwise shown an Health Services Program Manager Teresa Simms, MPH, has been selected to participate in the inaugural class of Blue Shield of California Foundation’s Clinic Leadership Institute, a program designed to identify and galvanize the next generation of community clinic leaders. One of only 26 professionals statewide and four from San Diego to be named to the leadership institute, Simms manages the dayto-day operations of the Village “ Dr. McCahill’s … ability to influence other health care providers to continue to care for the underserved is a model worthy of emulation across the state. Barbara Johnston, Medical Board of California outstanding commitment to patients in need, wherever located. “I considered my nomination from our dean’s office for the California Medical Board’s Physician Humanitarian Award to be a long-shot,” Dr. McCahill says. “The service that we do requires an incredible team, and the team we have at St. Vincent de Paul Village is awesome and like no other. Thanks so much to everyone, most especially to Father Joe – not Family Health Center (VFHC) at St. Vincent de Paul Village. “I hope that the institute will provide me with the tools to bring the clinic to a new level,” Simms says. The VFHC logs 35,000 medical, dental and psychiatric patient visits annually, 21,000 of those visits are with primary care providers. The VFHC saves San Diego hospitals thousands of dollars each month by providing services in our prenatal clinic to help prevent premature births only for his letter in support of this award, but more importantly, for his everyday tireless support of all of the work of the Village.” In addition to being medical director of the Village Family Heath Center, Dr. McCahill is founding director of the UCSD Combined Family Medicine- Psychiatry Residency Program, and she is a health sciences clinical professor of family medicine and psychiatry, UCSD that would require more extensive medical care. “I look forward to sharing information on topics in which we have become quite strong, including outcomes measurement and electronic medical records implementation,” Simms says. Blue Shield of California Foundation launched the institute with a pledge to spend up to $10 million in five years to help prepare future leaders to meet the challenges of providing Village News, spring 2008 7 St. Vincent de Paul Village VILLAGE NEWS Patricia M. Walsh Margaret E. McCahill, M.D. School of Medicine. Dr. McCahill, who was also listed in San Diego Magazine as one of the county’s “Top Doctors” this year, is board certified in both family medicine and psychiatry, and she practices both specialties. Dr. McCahill will be joined by Father Joe to accept her award on Nov. 7, 2008, at the Medical Board of California’s meeting in San Diego. Teresa Simms selected for clinic leadership institute The National Tuberculosis Curriculum Consortium (NTCC) was on site at the Village Family Health Center (VFHC) in November to tape patient-provider encounters as part of a cultural competency project to enhance the skills and attitudes of students in health disciplines when caring for patients with tuberculosis and latent tuberculosis infection. The videotapes will be used for lectures, case presentations and other valuable educational materials designed to strengthen the teaching on tuberculosis. The tapes will be available free-of-charge to educators and students on the NTCC website at ntcc.ucsd.edu. VFHC staff participating in the project included Jean Naugle, Dr. Aronoff-Spencer and Dr. Adesanya with additional support provided by Dr. Lorentz, Dr. McCahill, and Teresa Simms. The NTCC is a multidisciplinary educational program awarded to the University of California, San Diego and funded by the National Heart Lung and Blood Institute of the National Institutes of Health (Contract N01-HR-36157). Mobile Health Clinic in the community health care to some of the state’s most vulnerable residents. The 18-month program at The Center for the Health Professions at the University of California, San Francisco focuses on finance, strategy and leadership. California’s 800 community clinics provide medical care to nearly 3 million people annually, including 12 percent of the state’s children and 37 percent of those living below the poverty level. Our Mobile Health Clinic was on site at the City of San Diego’s homeless winter shelter for intake day in November to provide medical screening to neighbors in need entering the facility. Approximately 225 people were seen in the Mobile Health Clinic on intake day, which also provided approximately 128 flu shots and dispensed necessary medicines. Doctors provided 68 personal medical visits to neighbors in need. The Mobile Health Clinic is an outreach of the St. Vincent de Paul Village Family Health Center and the San Diego Health & Faith Alliance. The Mobile Health Clinic provides its services through the collaborative efforts of several universities and accredited professional training programs in San Diego County.
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