Welcome to the August edition of the Pulse.

While August is a busy time for folks to get in some end-of-summer fun, here at SJ Health we have some excitement too!

August 7-13 is National Health Center Awareness Week. SJ Health proudly participates in this annual celebration to raise awareness about our mission as a nonprofit health center and to highlight our accomplishments. This year, we’re especially appreciative that SJ Health will be accepting a proclamation at the San Joaquin County Board of Supervisors meeting on August 9 in recognition of the health access, quality care and services we bring to vulnerable populations and the underserved in our community. Also, our internal team is actively planning recognition activities for National Health Centers Week for our patients on August 10, and for you, our dedicated team, on August 12. Enjoy a special treat on Friday and be part of this week of recognition for SJ Health and other health centers like us nationally. We’re able to make a difference for thousands of patients annually because of your work and contributions!

Additionally, August is also National Immunization Awareness Month, an observance that highlights the efforts of health care professionals to protect patients of all ages against vaccine-preventable diseases through timely vaccination. Vaccination rates have suffered during the pandemic, and that includes among the patients we serve at SJ Health. If you have ideas about how we can further promote the importance of immunizations to our patients, please share your ideas with your supervisor.

I am also really excited about the much-needed dietician services and mobile health services we are now offering to our patients and community. This edition of the Pulse introduces our two new dietitians and the services they provide, as well as well as the health services available through our new mobile health center.

We hope you’ll take a moment to read the newsletter and learn more about how the entire SJ Health team is pursuing our mission. As always, please let me know if there may be topics you would like to see in the Pulse going forward.

Thanks again for all that you do for SJ Health and our patients.

Helping Our Patients Help Themselves: SJ Health’s Dietician Services

SJ Health is putting a renewed emphasis on the relationship between diet and health. Proper nutrition is an integral component for optimal health. For patients with health challenges such as diabetes and hypertension, an adequate and balanced diet is critical to improving their condition and their overall health outcomes. Adding proper nutrition to the health goals of all SJ Health patients is critical not just in improving illnesses, but also in healing wounds, recovering from disease, and building stamina.

Two of SJ Health’s newest team members are contributing to efforts to engage patients in nutritional health. Susan Celli and Linh Nguyen are Registered Dietician Nutritionists (RDN). Susan completed her BS in Dietetics at San Francisco State University and her internship at Napa State Hospital, where she presented on recipe modification at the Culinary Institute of America. Linh holds a degree in Clinical Nutrition from UC Davis and went on to complete an MBA and her clinical internship at Dominican University in Chicago. They share a passion for food and the desire to help people help themselves.

Linh, who immigrated from Vietnam to pursue her education, opted to transition from her International Trade major to Nutrition after recognizing the relevance that diet and nutrition played in American healthcare. “There’s a much stronger focus on prevention in the U.S., while in Vietnam the healthcare system centers around treatment. It was fascinating to see how nutrition could play such a significant role in changing the course for patients.”

Susan agreed. “We can reverse the impact of disease with how we eat and what we eat,” she said. “With stress management, people can learn to address root causes of illness and better learn to heal themselves. And it can be fun! There are so many creative ways to make veggies taste and look delicious!”

Susan and Linh are looking forward to promoting healthy eating and working with providers in launching SJ Health’s Food Rx program. Patients will soon be able to receive prescriptions for healthy food and assistance in accessing healthy food. This may even include cooking programs and mobile farmers market days. “To engage patients and have them sustain dietary improvements, we have to give them affordable, convenient and realistic options,” said Linh. A key aspect of an RDN’s role is to understand the patient’s cultural dietary norms, economic constraints, and daily activities so that the diet can be customized to meet their unique needs.

August is National Childhood Obesity Month and SJ Health provides support for many adolescents needing dietary interventions. “I see that young people tend to be more open to some of the healthier options that are proposed, but there are other challenges they face such as peer pressure or social situations related to unhealthy food, and often it’s the parents that make the decisions about what food is being purchased or served in the home,” said Linh, noting that she’s also seeing more frequent issues of dietary choices being driven by poor body image among adolescents.

When she’s not in an “RDN” mode, Susan, who lives in nearby Livermore, pursues her many other passions including travel (five cross country trips in the past six years) and flamenco dancing. She’s the proud owner of handmade flamenco shoes from Spain.
Linh, who lives in Modesto, enjoys outdoor activities with her two young huskies, and camping with friends and family. She acknowledges she loves to make desserts, but she isn’t inclined to eat them (“cooking is a form of stress relief for me”). So, she warns coworkers they shouldn’t be surprised if, ironically, you see this dietician chasing you down offering you cookies in the future!

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Taking Health Access on the Road

“This is nice!” exclaims one of the men’s shelter regulars as he approached the SJ Health mobile center “And you’re all going to come for our check-ups and all? Nice!”

Ralph Gage, intake coordinator the Stockton Shelter for the Homeless, takes it all in and concurs. “You guys pull up and we know help has arrived!” said Ralph.

When the pandemic started in 2020, SJ Health pop-up clinics were held almost daily in various locations in the county, offering COVID testing and vaccinations as they became available. Building on the success of its pop-up clinics, SJ Health leadership expanded its capacity to serve medical needs of the underserved communities by adding a mobile health center and formalizing its intent to launch a community health initiative aimed at bridging gaps between people and health care systems. Venues for this community outreach strategy will include shelters, schools, and neighborhood locations.

The mobile health center has one exam room and an assessment room, and canopies are set-up outside the unit for patient intake and non-sensitive screenings. Services include preventive medical care and limited urgent care, with services available by appointments or walk-in.

“We also hope to close gaps in care, update vaccinations and help with chronic disease management,” says Amandeep Dehal, RN, who serves as the clinic supervisor and nurse on duty for the mobile health center. “If you see us out in the community, come by and say hello and let us show you how we’re engaging hard-to-reach patients in a newly accessible way.”

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