Overview
Between 2006 and 2009 The Community Foundation’s Homeless Health initiative provided three-year grants to address basic health needs of the homeless in metro Atlanta and to fill gaps of needs not met by agencies providing similar services. A key learning of this initiative has been the need for a stronger Metro Atlanta system of Health Safety Net providers. The health safety net system – which is intended to provide free and affordable health services to under- and un-insured individuals – is not a coordinated system but rather a range of under-resourced organizations with varying capacities to address a growing demand for affordable services.
While homeless individuals represent the most visible and vulnerable of the under- and un-insured, they are not the only subgroup to struggle with access to healthcare and a broader range of social services. In most cases, access to health and mental health services is intensified by structural and other issues related to poverty – such as affordable housing, transportation, joblessness, low-pay employment, low educational attainment and social isolation. Additionally, undiagnosed mental illness and substance abuse contribute heavily to the difficulties of stabilizing the health and housing circumstances of vulnerable populations.
For these reasons, the health and mental health systems are overburdened by demand for what becomes uncompensated care. However, they also represent an opportunity to serve as a point of entry to other more appropriate and affordable means of addressing the overwhelming needs of individuals and families. While the issues of underserved populations are complex, many in the field agree that progress may be made in developing a more well-coordinated system of care across multiple health and social service providers. By developing the capacity of an array of community-based service providers (Federally Qualified Health Centers, community health centers, free clinics, faith-base clinics, etc.) and increasing their connection to the larger health care systems (i.e. Grady, Wellstar, Tenet, Emory, etc.), we may simultaneously increase the quality and effectiveness of care and services, at a more affordable cost.
Partners
The Community Foundation, along with private philanthropies and other funders from across the region and state, have embarked upon a nine-month learning agenda to study the complexities of the health and mental health safety net through their involvement in the Philanthropic Collaborative for a Health Georgia. As a result of their joint learning process, participants will develop collaborative and individual funding strategies to invest in strengthening the safety net and safety net providers.
Contact
If you have additional questions, please contact Lesley Grady, senior vice president, Community Partnerships, at 404-588-3185 or David Gibbs, health programs manager, Social Capital Consulting at 404-931-1838.
Recent Success
- In November 2008, The Community Foundation funded a collaboration between Grady Health System and The Gateway Center to support the piloting and subsequent replication of a transitional recuperative care program for homeless patients. In collaboration with Grady Health System, the Gateway Center and Saint Joseph’s Mercy Care Services this transitional Recuperative Care Pilot Program will target homeless patients admitted to Grady Hospital.
The program will work with individuals with a primary acute physical condition who are ready for hospital discharge, but who are in need of additional health and social services, best provided in a recuperative care setting. The program extends the continuum of health and social services to address patients’ needs post-discharge from the recuperative program.
- The Community Foundation is currently working collaboratively with Kaiser Permanente of Georgia and the United Way of Metropolitan Atlanta on projects to grow capacity building and connections among safety net providers in the region. Through the strategic planning and technical assistance work of Georgia State University’s Health Policy Center, and Social Capital Consulting (David Gibbs), The Community Foundation has helped form two regional planning groups that include a tri-county effort involving Cobb, Douglas and Paulding counties; and another in Rockdale County. Each group has identified several strategies intended to create a coordinated community health system involving major hospitals and community-based health and social services providers.