Bartlett Regional | House Calls | Summer 2019

COORDINATED ENTRY ROUNDTABLE Making a difference from behind the scenes Each Tuesday, more than a dozen people gather around a long table in a bit worn, yet bright room at St. Vincent de Paul near the airport. Their goal: to better coordinate services for more than 300 of the city and borough of Juneau’s most vulnerable community members. Many of those who attend the meetings work closely with people experiencing homelessness or having difficulty with basic living arrangements. They bring them furniture, help fill out paperwork, or give a ride to medical or counseling appointments. “The behind-the-scenes assistance to this population is incredible,” says Scott Ciambor, Chief Housing Officer for the City and Borough of Juneau. The weekly meetings are part of what’s known as coordinated entry, a best practice promoted by the federal Interagency Council on Homelessness. Their goal: to “make it possible for people experiencing or at risk of experiencing homelessness to have their strengths and needs quickly assessed and to be swiftly connected to appropriate, tailored housing and services within the community.” Mona, from Polaris House, which helps people experiencing mental illness, reminds the group of their upcoming annual fundraiser, while Brad, who manages St. Vincent’s, asks for ideas on where to put a new warming shelter and how to make more places for those in transition family-friendly. Data-driven, people-centered Key to the effort are quarterly data sets that track client gender, age, race, disabilities, shelter use and reasons for seeking assistance. The tool compiles information entered into a systemdeveloped by the Alaska Coalition on Housing and Homelessness. A recent report showed about a third of clients assisted by community agencies are homeless. The rest, says CBJ Housing and Homeless Services Coordinator Irene Gallion, either lost jobs or are having trouble with employment. CBJ Housing and Homeless Services Coordinator Irene Gallion clarify their diagnosis and treatment. “It makes a huge difference,” she says. Building relationships Anna works with repeat patients in the ED. Her goal is to help get their needs met, iron out communication gaps and help them find ways to not feel the need to visit the ED as much in the future. “We’re not saying we don’t want patients to come to Bartlett, but we want to make sure that their needs are being met at the appropriate level,” notes Jeannette. Key to such an effort is uncovering underlying issues—beyond the patient’s presenting condition—that may contribute to a patient coming to the emergency department, such as unresolved trauma, personal safety issues or isolation. That can be difficult to fully assess when a patient is in crisis. “It’s not fun to go to the ED,” Jeannette says. “How somebody interacts in the ED versus with service providers in the community may be quite different. The community navigators and the hospital case managers engage with patients at different times and from different perspectives. And by working together with the patients, we are able to broaden the scope of understanding of the issues each individual is facing. With greater understanding and collaboration, we can more effectively link our patients with services and providers to meet their social, behavioral health and medical needs.” Anna will meet with such patients at the hospital and follow up with a call the next day to see how they are doing. Anna Bullock, Social Worker Case Manager, and Jeannette Lacey, Case Management Director