Equity Health Teams Up with SFUSD, SFDPH for Childhood Immunization Effort

On a recent Saturday, back-to-school season was in full swing at Equity Health, formerly known as South of Market Health Center. Over 30 families had come to the Bayview Pediatric Clinic so their children could receive vaccinations necessary to enroll in school. This resoundingly successful event is the latest in a series of clinics that have been going on since February of 2023 when Equity Health teamed up with the San Francisco Department of Public Health (SFDPH) and San Francisco Unified School District (SFUSD) to offer easily accessible vaccines for local children as part of a response to a nation-wide, pandemic-related drop in childhood vaccinations.

Vaccination rates have been slow to bounce back, which means that many school-aged children have been unable to provide the required vaccination records to enroll in classes. To address the gap, the California Department of Public Health provided one-time funding to all counties to facilitate catch-up, and SFUSD used their funds to hire a consultant to review vaccination records. The lag was apparent: many student records were missing data or lacking proof of up-to-date shots. A large proportion of these students don’t have a primary care provider or medical home and many are uninsured.

SFCCC’s member clinics were a clear partner in addressing this inequity: not only could community health centers help families apply for Medi-Cal, review records and provide free or low-cost vaccinations, we could also connect them with an accessible, culturally and linguistically appropriate medical home. When SFDPH put out the call for a partner, Equity Health was quick to respond. Further, they were willing to offer clinics on Saturdays to accommodate the needs of working families who struggled to make appointment times during traditional business hours.

Equity Medical Director, Dr. Yogesh Jagirdar seized this opportunity to take a “whole person care approach” with his patients, addressing a spectrum of needs. For years, the organization’s Bayview pediatric clinic has seen a steady stream of newcomer families seeking vaccinations, but had noticed a recent increase in demand concurrent with SFUSD’s efforts. Dr. Jagirdar found himself wondering “Is this something we can assist with in a more comprehensive and structured way?" The partnership with SFDPH and SFUSD created just such an opportunity. The project’s most pressing goal is to support new families trying to enroll their students in a timely fashion. However, because many of these families are recent immigrants with little knowledge of local resources, Equity Health also sees an opportunity to connect families with a medical home and familiarize them with available resources and social services. Key to theseefforts are community health workers, who are specifically trained to address social determinants of health.

Rocio Aguilar, a participant in SFCCC’s CHW program, has played a key role in these efforts. Since December of 2022, Aguilar has staffed a direct line at Equity Health for patients who have reached out to SFUSD’s call center with vaccination questions. She works with callers to schedule appointments, including the Saturday time slots, and offers to connect them with primary and dental care, food, and other support. She sees her interactions as the first step to what she hopes will be a long relationship between families and Equity Health, "It's not like I’m only going to help them the one time; I like to follow through with the patients".

Once patients arrive at the clinic, staff, including Dr. Jagirdar, Aguilar, and other CHWs like Jermaine Rice and Cristian Torres help to review patients’ records, direct them to a staff member who administers necessary vaccinations, and educate them about Equity Health’s extensive services. At a recent clinic, the Bayview clinic’s Dental Director joined as well, setting up a station in the patient waiting area to offer information and advice about tooth brushing and
dental hygiene, and hand out free dental kits.

The team’s efforts have paid off: dozens of families have found a medical home in Equity Health as a result of their activities. Dr. Jagirdar recounts a newcomer family he encountered at a recent vaccination event who were struggling to establish themselves in Bayview, facing food and housing insecurity. While they initially came to Equity Health with the intention of vaccinating their children, with the help of CHWs they were connected with food and housing support and established primary care at the Bayview clinic. The staff report seeing the family’s confidence in navigating their care grow enormously.

This most recent partnership between Equity Health, SFDPH, and SFUSD is an example of several new and innovative collaborations between SFCCC member clinics and both city agencies. In August, Mission Neighborhood Health Center opened a new clinic at John O’Connell high school after students raised the need for better care on campus. Aguilar recently visited a back-to-school night at Guadalupe Elementary School to spread the word about Equity Health’s services and has received many follow up calls from interested families.

These projects give community health centers the opportunity to do what we do best: deliver patient-centered comprehensive primary care in a culturally-sensitive, community-based setting. Truly equitable care requires reaching outside the walls of the conventional delivery system to address social determinants of health. By combining resources with city agencies who share our goals, we’re able to bring our services to those who need them most. “Community health centers are committed to addressing the broad health care needs of our patients and communities” adds David Ofman, SFCCC’s Chief Medical Officer. “Partnerships with other non-profit and public institutions is how under-resourced community clinics close the gap between what they are resourced to do and the comprehensive health care they are committed
to providing.”