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A Letter to the Editor of the
San Francisco Chronicle
from John Gressman, President & CEO, SFCCC

Editor:

We congratulate the San Francisco Chronicle for highlighting the Institute of Medicine (IOM) report “Retooling for an Aging America” findings about the health care system for seniors not being ready to provide health care to the U.S. senior population that will be doubling between 2005 and 2030. The report indicates that situation is of crisis proportions and it has specific recommendations that are far reaching for the providers and for the patients that will be served.

In San Francisco, according to the latest census data, senior adults are the fastest growing age group in San Francisco. By the year 2020, the proportion of seniors will grow by 28%, to 174,000 individuals, who will comprise 21.3% of the total population of the city. Among this age group are uninsured and low-income seniors who need primary health care and an array of supportive services.

In 2002 SFCCC and its partner health clinics began meeting to consider the San Francisco census information. We related this information to the projected growth of the population of senior patients and older patients in our clinics and initiated the identification of the capacity building components the clinics would need in order to be ready to begin or to expand the provision of primary medical care and related services. In 2003, with the support of funding from The California Endowment we launched, and are continuing to develop and implement, the Healthy Aging Project (HAP) – a capacity building training program focused on geriatric medical care and comprehensive care for senior patients.

Last year our ten SFCCC partner clinics provided primary medical care for a total of 69,412 patients and the combined populations – senior patients and older patients – equal 39% of the total number of SFCCC patients.

We urge you to continue to highlight the IOM report and to promulgate its findings. We agree with the findings for the report and we share the grave concern on the part of the IOM that unless the recommended changes in senior health care occur, and occur quickly, the projected crisis situation will become a matter of fact.

Sincerely,

John Gressman
President and CEO
San Francisco Community Clinic Consortium

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Lyon-Martin Health Services'
"Brothers for Sisters Penthouse Party"

The original Brothers for Sisters campaign began in 1995 as a way for Bay Area men to 'give-back' to the women's community who had been the first to step up as care-givers and help-mates when HIV first ravaged the San Francisco LGBT community.

That giving tradition continues on May 15th as we come together to honor women, men and transgender people who are working together to support Lyon-Martin. Lyon-Martin provides personalized healthcare and support services to women and transgender people who lack access to quality care because of their sexual or gender identity, regardless of their ability to pay. Lyon-Martin Health Services is the only free-standing community clinic in California with a specific emphasis on lesbian/bisexual women and transgender health care.

So far, in 2008, Lyon-Martin has been named as a beneficiary of events produced by men from the Bears of San Francisco and The Gay Rodeo in support of Brothers for Sisters. In addition, committee members are in the planning stages for two other events this year.

The Brothers for Sisters campaign invites YOU to join this wonderful effort in support of Lyon-Martin. For more information, or buy tickets online, please click here to be redirected to Lyon-Martin's Events page.

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New Report Highlights the Vital Role of Community Clinics and Health Centers

The California Primary Care Association recently released a new publication entitled "The Vital Role of Community Clinics and Health Centers: Assuring Access for All Californians." This report provides a summary of the most compelling research making the case that community clinics and health centers are a cost-effective solution to our system's health care woes. For a .pdf copy of the report, please click here.

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John Gressman, SFCCC President & CEO, Inducted into Grassroots Hall of Fame

The National Association of Community Health Centers (NACHC) has inducted John Gressman, President and CEO of the San Francisco Community Clinic Consortium in San Francisco, California into the NACHC Grassroots Hall of Fame. The recognition honors the dedication and energetic efforts by advocates to rally public and political support for the strength and expansion of America’s Health Centers.

“John Gressman has been a passionate advocate on behalf of health centers,” said Tom Van Coverden, President and CEO of NACHC. “We would not be here today in such full force were it not for people like John in the community working for better health care. We deeply appreciate his tireless work, dedication and energetic leadership.”

Health centers serve as the health care homes for 17 million people in over 6,000 communities. Health centers save the health care system an estimated $9.9 billion to $17.6 billion a year and have drawn top ratings as one of the most highly effective federal programs by the budget conscious White House Office of Management and Budget. With demand for health centers continuing to grow among the medically underserved and uninsured, local, state and national support for initiatives that support and strengthen their mission is critical now more than ever. The national network of health center grassroots advocates, working in communities across the country to spread the message, help make this key support possible.

Gressman was one of six individuals presented with the NACHC Grassroots Hall of Fame Award at the 33nd Annual NACHC Policy and Issues Forum in Washington, D.C., an event attended by over 2000 health center leaders from around the country.

Founded in 1970, the National Association of Community Health Centers (NACHC) is a non-profit organization whose mission is to enhance and expand access to quality, community-responsive health care for America’s medically underserved and uninsured. In serving its mission, NACHC represents the nation’s network of over 1,000 Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs) which serve 17 million people through 6,300 sites located in all of the 50 states, Puerto Rico, the District of Columbia, the U.S. Virgin Islands and Guam.

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Information About Economic Stimulus Payments for Social Security, Veterans, and Other Beneficiaries

For information about the economic stimulus payments, please click here.

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VET SOS IS IN NEED OF PROGRAM SUPPLIES

VET SOS has compiled a list of needed items. For more information, please click here.

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New "Health Matters in San Francisco" Website

The Building A Healthier San Francisco Coalition has just launched a new website with a lot of information about the health of San Franciscans. The website includes zip code and neighborhood level health status data. It also includes linkages to health program "best practices" from around the country. There is also a variety of information on a host of other community issues - e.g., air quality, transportation. The site will be revised regularly as new information becomes available.

To explore the site, please click here.

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SFCCC President & CEO John Gressman Responds to "State Children's Health Insurance Program" Chronicle Article

John Gressman, SFCCC's President & CEO, responded to an article published in the San Francisco Chronicle. To read Mr. Gressman's Letter to the Editor, which was originally published on Saturday, September 15, 2007, please click here.

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New York Times Covers North East Medical Services & Healthy San Francisco

To read the September 14, 2007 New York Times article about "Healthy San Francisco" and North East Medical Services, please click here.

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SFCCC President & CEO John Gressman Responds to "Safety Net" Chronicle Article

SFCCC's President & CEO, John Gressman, recently responded to an article published in the San Francisco Chronicle. To read Mr. Gressman's Letter to the Editor, which was originally published on Friday, August 31, 2007, please click here.

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San Francisco Activist Elouise Westbrook Interviewed by ABC News

Life-long community activist Elouise Westbrook was recently interviewed by ABC7 News. Please click here for the complete interview.

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SFCCC's Strategic Plan Initiatives:
Goals and Objectives 2007-2010

SFCCC's Board of Directors has adpoted a Strategic Plan for 2007 to 2010. For a copy, please click here.

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VET SOS Clients Benefit from Endowment

Pets Unlimited, a VET SOS partner agency and San Francisco’s oldest non-profit animal shelter and veterinary hospital, received a generous endowment in honor of the late Sergeant Darryl Tsujimoto. The endowment is being established by San Francisco philanthropist Nina Ireland, and will help fund many aspects of animal care, including medical care for animals referred by VET SOS, a project of the SFCCC’s Street Outreach Services program.

For more information about VET SOS, please click here.

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Lyon-Martin's New Name

The Bay Area Reporter (BAR) covered the recent name change of Lyon-Martin Women's Health Services to Lyon-Martin Health Services. Dawn Harbatkin, MD, Medical Director of Lyon-Martin, discussed the name change with BAR reporter Heather Cassell. Please click here to read the article.

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John Gressman, President & CEO
15 Years of Service to SFCCC

In 1991, when John Gressman assumed the role of President & CEO of the San Francisco Community Clinic Consortium, there were two other clinic networks in California and 4 across the country. Today, SFCCC is one of over 80 clinic networks in the country and 13 in California.

The following major achievements and successes are the result of 15 years of a strategic relationships between a visionary Board of Directors, 8 partner clinics the from 1991 to 1996; 9 from 1997-1999, and 10 from 2000 to the present.

SFCCC’s Vision is to create access to care for all San Franciscans, targeting the uninsured, underinsured and persons using government payors for their health care needs. SFCCC’s Vision, Mission, and Strategic Plan succeeds due to a unique relationship of community-based health centers and free clinics maximizing their own resources and building on the strength and power of collaboration, cooperation, and commitment to each other and to the SFCCC network. Through this relationship and shared commitment, SFCCC is considered a unique national model that has had a key influence in shaping and replicating the model for hundreds of other clinics.

Following are some of the major achievements accomplished under Mr. Gressman’s leadership over the past 15 years:

  • Established a strong working relationship with elected federal legislators, including members of the U.S. Senate and the U.S. House of Representatives and their respective staff, to advance the support and funding of health centers and related programs.
  • Established relationships with Health Maintenance Organizations (HMOs) and hospitals in order to acquire funding and technical support for SFCCC clinics and the uninsured patients they serve. This includes Kaiser Permanente, Saint Francisco Memorial Hospital, and California Pacific Medical Center.
  • Increased government funding for clinics and SFCCC, including expanding Homeless, HIV, AHEC, ISDI and other grants.
  • Secured Congressional Member Request of funds for clinics for core infrastructure needs.
  • Initiated centralized Disaster Response to increase skills and readiness of clinics.
  • Created a working relationship with the San Francisco Office of the Mayor, and initiated joint planning to address health needs of City residents.
  • Secured Agreement of San Francisco Department of Pubic Health (SFDPH) Memorandum of Agreement to create joint Primary Care Council for planning and program development.
  • Established a visible and consistent presence with the San Francisco Health Commission and Board of Supervisors, including being recognized as an expert on primary health care needs and community health care needs.
  • Convened first working meeting with the City Hospitals and the Hospital Council of Northern and Central California (HCNCC) to jointly address community health care needs.
  • Launched one of the country’s first Primary Care, community-based Gerontology programs to enhance the quality of care and outcomes for the “age wave” of uninsured and underserved San Francisco seniors projected for 2010.
  • Secured funding, after extensive planning, that resulted in the installation of one of the country’s first shared Health Information systems with SFDPH.
  • Established a clinic group-purchasing program that allows clinics to maximize clinic funding through up to 50% savings programs. Operate a warehouse of donated goods and equipment for clinic use. Obtain funds to group purchases of clinic and patient supplies to maximize group discount rates, e.g. diabetes supplies.
  • Established AmeriCorps/HealthCorp Program that allows clinics to expand access to care, support quality of care, support patient follow-up care and recruit clinic volunteers. The program further serves as clinic staff recruitment program and provides supportive environment for working in health centers, as a career, after schooling.
  • In 2006, founded first network-based high school summer employment program to expose Galileo High School students to health careers.
  • Convened regional and national network peer groups to support and expand work of networks and clinics.
  • Purchased larger, better-equipped SOS mobile medical van, specifically designed to allow for greater privacy and better care for patients.
  • Established Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) four schools: Medical, Pharmacy, Nursing, and Social Work.
  • Built Residency and Nurse training program through SOS.
  • Initiated efforts to expand access to specialty care through CPMC, FQHC, and other sources.

“As a founding member of the San Francisco Community Clinic Consortium, I am proud of the important and invaluable work SFCCC has accomplished under John Gressman’s leadership. I know that our clinics, and our patients, are better served today because of John and his team.” Gladys Sandlin, SFCCC Founding Board Member, former President of SFCCC’s Board of Directors, and Executive Director of Mission Neighborhood Health Center.

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SFCCC Policy Updates

For SFCCC's most recent Policy Updates, please click here.

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Chronicle Cites VET SOS Work with
Project Homeless Connect

VET SOS was recently featured as a successful Project Homeless Connect partner in the San Francisco Chronicle. To read the full article, please click here.

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SFCCC Board Resolution:
SFCCC Supports the Rebuild of
San Francisco General Hospital

WHEREAS, San Francisco General Hospital, as one of the nation’s leading public hospitals, has continuously provided for over one hundred years a wide range of ambulatory and acute care services to generations of San Francisco residents; and,

WHEREAS, San Francisco General Hospital has received national and international recognition for excellence in services, such as AIDS care, primary care, specialty care, women and children’s services, psychiatric services, trauma, clinical research and teaching; and,

WHEREAS, San Francisco General Hospital, through its long-standing affiliation with the University of California at San Francisco, has been the nucleus for medical research in the areas of AIDS/HIV, lung biology, infectious diseases, neurology, and other healthcare concerns vital to the citizens of San Francisco; and,

WHEREAS, the highly regarded staff of San Francisco General Hospital provides an essential service through direct clinical care and through related medical research of diseases affecting the residents of San Francisco; and,

WHEREAS, San Francisco General Hospital provides significant services to the City’s health care safety net, including the SFCCC partner non-profit community health centers; and,

WHEREAS, SFCCC has a critical interest in the location and range of services provided by the rebuilt SFGH, and

WHEREAS, California Senate Bill 1953 requires all California acute care hospitals to have performed all seismic improvements to existing buildings by the year 2008, and have available a seismically conforming building for acute patient care before the year 2030 or be revoked of their acute care license; and,

WHEREAS, California Senate Bill 1803 (Speier) allows hospitals to defer seismic improvements to existing hospital buildings by 2008, provided a conforming building is in place by 2013; and,

WHEREAS, San Francisco General Hospital’s Main Building has been categorized as Structural Performance Category 1 (SPC 1), and currently does not comply with SB 1953 regulations; and,

WHEREAS, the definition of SPC 1 states "Buildings posing a significant risk of collapse and a danger to the public;" and,

WHEREAS, it is unlikely that any interim retrofit structural/non-structural work achieved in the existing building by the year 2008 deadline of SB 1953 regulations would meet the year 2030 deadline of having a seismically conforming building for acute patient care; and

WHEREAS, the San Francisco Health Commission supports the rebuilding of San Francisco General Hospital so that a new conforming building will be in place by the year 2013 (Speier);

WHEREAS, the San Francisco Health Commission supported the creation of a Planning Committee to bring recommendations on how to rebuild San Francisco General Hospital to the Health Commission, Board of Supervisors and the Mayor; and,

WHEREAS, the San Francisco General Hospital Rebuild Planning Committee was formed to make programmatic, technical and financial recommendations on the rebuilding of the Hospital and the use of the Campus; and,

RESOLVED, that SFCCC supports the rebuilding of San Francisco General Hospital by the year 2013 and will separately consider endorsement of the location and services of the new facility when formally put forward by the Planning Committee.

Approved by the SFCCC Board of Directors: January 18, 2006

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SFCCC and Its Ten Partner Health Centers Urge the City to Adopt Our Guiding Health Care Principles in the Proposed Health Coverage Initiative

Board Adopted February 15,2006

SFCCC is the network of 10 non-profit health center organizations serving the City’s diverse communities with culturally and linguistically competent primary medical and dental care services at 16 sites. SFCCC partner health centers provide 270,000 medical and dental visits per year to 75,000 City residents (10% of the population). Approximately 67% of SFCCC health center patients are people of color and 81% have incomes below 200% of the Federal Poverty Level. It is estimated that 60% of SFCCC health centers’ uninsured patients are employed full or part time. SFCCC health centers currently employ 1,500 full and part time employees and provide insurance for approximately 95% of them.

SFCCC recommends that proposed City health coverage expansions assure that the following principles are incorporated:

  • We support culturally and linguistically competent care and care for all patients.
  • We support evidence-based, cost-effective, comprehensive health care services.
  • We support expansion of access to care and services for the uninsured, underinsured and medically underserved.
  • We support provider reimbursements that cover the cost of care.
  • We support programs that recognize the role of community health centers as providers of care to the uninsured working population.
  • Costs for employers, employees and government must be balanced.
  • Access to affordable coverage for nonprofit employers must be ensured.
  • We support the principle that primary care is the foundation for all health care.
  • We recognize that an effective policy to control cost is for all patients to have a medical home in a primary care, community-based provider.

For further information please contact Dick Hodgson (VP of Policy and Planning) at 415 355-2230 or rhodgson@sfccc.org.

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San Francisco Community Clinic Consortium Policy on Recommendations To Address California Dental Needs

Adopted: February 15, 2006

Dental disease affects more school-age children than any other chronic health condition. It is essential to develop a broad-based approach for reducing the impact of this disease on children, their families and public programs. Strategies should parallel those used for other health conditions, such as asthma, diabetes and obesity.

1) Develop a Comprehensive Oral Health Surveillance System

Issues: California currently lacks any mechanism to regularly and systematically collect data on the oral health status of individuals or the availability of oral health services. Decision makers must have current and reliable information to establish relevant policies and programs and evaluate their success. California needs a system to regularly assess oral health status and services.

ACTIONS: Such a system would require:

  • Local (county) assessments of the oral health status, needs and available resources for care for children in preschool through high school to be conducted every five years.
  • Statewide assessments of oral health status of pre-school and school-aged children to be conducted every five years

2) Eliminate Barriers to Care

Issues: People fail to receive good oral health care for a number of reasons including: a lack of resources (insurance or money) available for care; limited appreciation for the importance of oral health and little information about publicly funded programs. In addition, reimbursement rates for providers through California’s public dental insurance programs are significantly lower than most states and insufficient to attract any significant participation by most private providers.

ACTIONS:

  • Support the inclusion of dental coverage to at least the level of coverage provided in Medi-Cal in any legislation addressing children’s health insurance coverage.
  • Expand programs to inform Medi-Cal, Healthy Families and Children’s Health Initiative enrollees about their dental benefits and the importance of early and periodic dental visits to prevent oral disease.
  • Provide financial incentives to medical and dental professionals to provide early preventive care, including counseling, risk assessment and preventive dental procedures. Increase payments for preventive services to providers who receive training on early childhood oral health.

3) Prevent Disease

Issues: Dental decay is largely preventable if appropriate preventive measures are taken at an early age. These measures include early care by a dentist. Proven preventive dental services such as dental sealants, fluoride varnishes, and the fluoridation of community water supplies are effective but are also underutilized. Funding for research aimed at preventing or eliminating the disease is limited.

ACTIONS:

  • Every child to have a dental examination and necessary treatment by kindergarten.
  • Require all dental insurance and managed care plans to provide coverage for dental sealants and other scientifically proven preventive measures.
  • Increase to at least 25% the number of preschool children served by existing programs that receive fluoride varnish applications and other preventive services.
  • Increase funding for state prevention programs to add more schools, more grades, special education programs, and to provide more resources for local preventive programs and expansion of preschool preventive activities.
  • Fund dental sealant programs and other preventive services in existing school-based/school-linked programs, and develop new preventive programs at community clinics and migrant health centers.
  • Conduct a sealant promotion campaign directed at both the public and dental professionals. Increase financial support for capital, operations, and maintenance costs of community water fluoridation.
  • Build the science base by encouraging more research aimed at prevention and elimination of the disease.

4) Establish an Integrated Public Health Infrastructure

Issues: California lacks a sufficient public health infrastructure to meet the oral health needs of its residents, including an adequate dental workforce focused on serving the public.

ACTIONS:

  • Require California to create and maintain a state dental director position. Provide adequate authority and resources to enable the director to advance policies and programs that improve oral health status while integrating oral health into overall health.
  • Grow the public dental health workforce. Develop pathways and incentives to encourage the practice of public health dentistry and to encourage dental practice in underserved areas of the state and to underserved populations.

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VET SOS's Project Coordinator
Featured in KPIX News Report

Dr. Ilana Strubel, DVM, recently received the prestigious Jefferson Award for her work with VET SOS, caring for the companion animals of homeless San Franciscans. Dr. Strubel was featured in a news report on the January 4 edition of KPIX's Channel 5 News.

For a summary of the report, please click here. For more information about VET SOS, please click here.

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San Francisco Free Clinic's Dr. Patricia Hellman Gibbs
Featured in Chronicle Article

Dr. Patricia Hellman Gibbs, co-founder of SFCCC's partner health center, the San Francisco Free Clinic, was featured in an article in the San Francisco Chronicle's Friday, January 6, 2006 edition. To read the article on the Chronicle's website, please click here.

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