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Program Design & Management | SOS Van Routes | SOS Resources | VET SOS

SOS Program Highlights

• Provided 1,930 patient visits (Exceeded HCH contract expectations)
  • 885 Primary medical visits
  • 493 Physician visits
  • 392 Nurse Practitioner visits
  • 709 Case management visits
  • 276 Health education visits
  • 36 Nursing visits
  • 24 Optometry visits
• Hosted 25 UCSF primary care medical residents for 3-6 week rotations
• Hosted 6 MSN & RN students from UCSF & SFSU for semester-long rotations 
• Hosted 12 1st-year UCSF medical students for site visits focused on introduction to homeless health issues
• Partnered with street medicine program “Operation Safety Net”, Pittsburgh, PA,  to present best practices model at International Street Medicine Symposium in San Juan, Puerto Rico
• Completed primary care referral study; found that  40% of SOS patients who received a primary care referral connected to primary care services within 6 months
• Provided training & technical assistance to potential & established homeless medical programs nationwide, including University of Minnesota Medical School
• Received $97,000 from an anonymous donor. Received new funding from Nordstrom’s, $5,000; The Gilmore Foundation, $2,500; & The Goodman Family Charitable Fund, $5,000
• Developed a new partnership with Levi’s for complimentary clothing for SOS patients
• Revised SOS policy & procedure manual; created key policies on abuse/neglect reporting, domestic violence,  & minor consent
• Outreach worker attendance at San Francisco Homeless Service Provider Network (HSPN) & Region IX Healthcare for the Homeless (HCH) conference to expand staff skills and network with other homeless health professionals
• All SOS outreach staff were Red Cross certified as CPR/AED professional rescuers
• Administered flu shots to over 100 patients
• Established twice monthly naloxone trainings for young, injection drug users at UFO suitcase clinic site
• Increased role of SOS Consumer Advisory Panel (CAP) representative in CQI activities
• Provided medical discharge, information/referral, &/or veterinary services (through VET SOS project) at all 6 Project Homeless Connect events
• Supported VET SOS to provide volunteer-supported veterinary services to over 700 homeless companion animals & 235 human health referrals; increased project funding by over 100%
• VET SOS Project Coordinator, volunteer Dr. Ilana Strubel, DVM, was selected as a recipient of SFGH Foundation “Heroes & Hearts” award

Street Outreach Services (SOS)

Street Outreach Services (SOS) is the mobile outreach component of SFCCC’s Health Care for the Homeless (HCH) program. Since 1988, SOS has provided high quality, non-judgmental health services directly to homeless people in places where they live and congregate.

Traveling in a medical van to sites throughout San Francisco, the dedicated SOS team of doctors, nurses, outreach workers, and volunteers creates “clinics without walls,” at soup kitchens, on city streets, in parks, and if the need arises — and it has — under freeway overpasses. SOS also provides its services at San Francisco's Project Homeless Connect in the Civic Center. In other words, anywhere homeless San Franciscans can be found, the SOS team finds itself.

At these sites, the team provides critically needed preventive and urgent health care services; distributes hygiene and health supplies; helps people to complete applications for benefits; and refers clients to citywide clinics for more extensive care — assisting with transportation to be sure they get there. They also connect clients to an array of social services, and guide them to gain access to these programs. Additionally, SOS provides vitamins, condoms, clothes, as well as information regarding various resources, including drug detoxification and rehabilitation programs, housing, and medical and social services.

SOS provides services to low-income people who are experiencing extreme poverty and homelessness. Clients include veterans, immigrants, sex workers, and vehicularly housed individuals, as well as people suffering from mental illness and drug addiction disorders. SOS provides a variety of medical and social services free of charge. Many acute health problems are treated on site, while those patients requiring more extensive care are given appointments in community clinics or are referred to S.F. General Hospital.

Making “house calls” to people who have no home to call their own indicates just how far SFCCC, with its nine partner clinics, will go to fulfill its mission to ensure that all San Franciscans have access to health care.

Started in 1982, SFCCC provides programs and services that preserve and promote the longstanding tradition of community health care that began with our first partner. Each of them made vision a reality by starting neighborhood clinics — “medical homes” to serve those who had fallen through the cracks of the health care system. A safe, welcoming place where people are valued, respected and, most importantly, understood. SOS draws from that same tradition.

SOS utilizes every avenue to reach its homeless clients, many of whom have companion animals. In 2001, SOS began an innovative project called Veterinary Street Outreach Services (VET SOS). Based on an idea from a former SOS client, the SOS program partnered with a volunteer veterinarian to begin offering care to homeless animals, as a way to reach out to homeless San Franciscans. This pilot project has been very successful in getting our clients linked to health and other social services -- the first step to turning their lives around. Research confirms our findings of the importance of the human-animal bond, as a road to healing.

It is respect and understanding that is key to the success of SOS. By going directly to homeless people — meeting them on their own turf and terms, in their neighborhoods — the SOS team builds a relationship of trust, and breaks down the barriers that keep them from the care they so greatly need.

Street Outreach Services (SOS) is funded by a combination of federal and private sources, and is operated by SFCCC in collaboration with its partner clinics.

For SOS van routes, please click here. For SOS resources, please click here.

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