NHC SF Member Blog: Serving With San Francisco Residents Living in Supportive Housing
Hey everyone! My name is Hannah (she/her), and I am from Palo Alto, CA. After spending the past four years at the University of Oregon, I am back in California, and I am serving as the Permanent Housing Advanced Clinical Services (PHACS) Care and Capacity Coordinator. This position is within the Whole Person Integrated Care (WPIC) section of the San Francisco Department of Public Health (SFDPH).
PHACS is a relatively new program, only starting in March of 2022, but has grown significantly in the couple months I have been here! PHACS is an interdisciplinary team that consists of licensed clinical social workers (LCSW), nurse practitioners (NP), health workers (HW), nurses, doctors, and pharmacists. The primary goal of
PHACS is keeping individuals in permanent supportive housing (PSH) housed and able to live safely in the community! This is achieved by partnering with residents and support staff at over 100 PSH buildings in San Francisco and meeting residents where they’re at. This means providing medical and behavioral health care within someone's home, until they can be reconnected to four walls clinics.
In my position I have had the opportunity to serve in a few different capacities. I have spent a lot of time working directly with clients, helping connect them to community resources, enroll them in community programs, and accompany individuals to appointments. These engagements have given me the opportunity to connect with clients face to face and form meaningful relationships - in addition to getting in lots of steps walking between all the PSH sites and often running into fellow AmeriCorps members!
Beyond client-facing work, I have spent a lot of time working behind the scenes. Because PHACS is such a new program, there is a lot of growth that is still occurring. One of the projects I have been leading has involved collecting feedback from all the community partners that PHACS works with. To continue expanding PHACS services and building the capacity of the support staff at the PSH sites, I have spent time consolidating feedback and preparing training materials to present both internally to PHACS staff and externally to the PSH sites.
My time in this position has simultaneously shed immense light on the lack of affordable housing available in San Francisco, and on the range of resources that are available. While there is no doubt that immeasurable work needs to be done to support the health and wellbeing of San Francisco’s residents, it gives me hope to see so many people working within the system to create change. I am incredibly grateful for the experience I have had so far and for the people and mentorship that have been a part of it, and I hope to be able to continue to work in this community following my AmeriCorps service term!
About the Author:
Hannah (she/her) is one of the 2023-2024 NHC San Francisco AmeriCorps Members. She is currently serving as the Permanent Housing Advanced Clinical Services (PHACS) Care and Capacity Coordinator with the San Francisco Department of Public Health - Whole-Person Integrated Care Department.