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SJ Health Team Newsletter #10 – February 2023
This month’s Pulse newsletter reflects how SJ Health is truly growing as an organization, with expanding programs, outreach, patient engagement initiatives, and, importantly, the recruitment of passionate and experienced team members that make it all happen!
Over the last several months we’ve brought onboard several individuals who are quickly engaging to further our mission and strategic objectives. Together, they’re building our capacity to improve the health of our community. They’re also joining the rest of our team in enabling SJ Health to strengthen its focus on quality improvement while also effectively building new and exciting strategies to reach our vulnerable community through programs like Enhanced Care Management (ECM), the integration of community support resources, and the deployment of street medicine for the unhoused – all key priorities of the Medi-Cal program transformation. I encourage you to read on to learn more about your new colleagues and the breadth of experience they are bringing to SJ Health and the efforts we’re undertaking.
I’m also pleased to showcase the well-regarded and nationally recognized pediatric literacy program, Reach Out and Read, and the notable efforts of Dr. Elayyan to connect SJ Health’s youngest patients with the joy of books and reading through our participation in the program. Our health centers have had a very supportive role in Reach Out and Read since its inception in San Joaquin County over 20 years ago, and I’m excited to see the vision that Dr. Elayyan has for expanding its reach through our sites.
As always, we welcome your feedback as you read Pulse, as well as your suggestions for programs, coworkers, and other potential feature articles in future issues.
The inability to read has been linked to poorer health status in various studies, and the ability to read is recognized as an important factor in “health literacy” and people’s capacity to understand how to navigate the health care system. Just as importantly, exposure to reading is important to childhood development. That’s why SJ Health is participating in a nationally recognized non-profit reading program called “Reach Out and Read.” The pediatric literacy program is unique in that it is based in pediatric and family practice settings and strives to showcase trusted providers both model the importance of books and reading to young children and their caregivers, as well as to provide books to young readers.
Ala Elayyan, MD, a SJ Health pediatrician, spearheads the program within the health centers and is an advocate for its expansion. Having been involved in the program during his residency before arriving at San Joaquin General Hospital, he learned that the program had previously existed in San Joaquin County but had been suspended following changes in funding from various community sponsors. Upon his arrival in 2018, he was able to get the program relaunched at SJ Health’s Stockton site on California Street, provide training to practitioners, secure start-up and ongoing budgeted funding, and re-establish the program officially within the national Reach Out and Read network of over 6,000 sites.
SJ Health’s Stockton health center has a dedicated reading area for kids, and parents are encouraged to read to children while they are waiting for their well-child visit. During the exam, the provider also hands the kids a book that is age, developmentally, and language appropriate. “In addition to highlighting the book, pictures, and content, we can also use it to assess the child’s engagement and response – so it’s both diagnostic and encourages literacy,” explains Dr. Elayyan. Children receive books at each wellness visit from six month old to five years old, taking a book home with them to develop a mini library that might not otherwise be possible for many low-income families.
Dr. Elayyan notes that there’s renewed potential for additional funding for programs such as Reach Out and Read as the last several years found many foundations and other funding sources divert their resources toward vaccination efforts and outreach. With additional funding, along with training, the program could be expanded to SJ Health Family Practice providers in French Camp, as well as future sites planned for Manteca and Lodi. “With COVID restrictions being reduced, there’s also potential that we can also recruit and deploy volunteers to read to children as they’re waiting for their well-child visits,” notes Dr. Elayyan.
Reach Out and Read, and the efforts of leaders such as Dr. Elayyan, reflect the impact SJ Health can have on our patients — going beyond the walls of our health centers and standard health visits – to pursue our vision of healthier future for those we serve.
Cynthia Rios brings over 22 years of nursing experience to her new SJ Health role as director of nursing, and she’s excited to work with her leadership colleagues and the broader SJ Health team to increase the organization’s focus on healthcare quality.
“I spent many years at San Joaquin General Hospital, starting in the ambulatory clinic and then moving onto administration, so I understand our staffing needs and what it takes to meet the needs of our patient population, and more importantly I know what our nurses experience.”
Cynthia has experience in Lean Six Sigma and believes there’s opportunity to further support SJ Health’s objectives with integration of this process improvement methodology.
Prior to joining SJ Health, Cynthia was at Sutter Gould in a role focused on quality and education. She maintained oversight of a robust team of clinical trainers that focused on infection control and onsite auditing to ensure that clinics were always survey ready. She also maintained the decentralized quality outreach program for Sutter Gould and Sutter Medical Foundation that impacted the lives of over 90,000 patient lives with one or more care gaps. In addition, she supervised nursing teams that maintained a successful coumadin clinic and medication refill program.
Born in East LA, Cynthia spent her youth there as well as in Long Beach (she completed her RN education at Long Beach City College) but migrated to Ripon to raise her growing family. She now lives in Turlock with her teen son, and her 18-year-old daughter who is preparing to move to Southern California. Cynthia has two adult daughters as well and is thrilled to now call herself a grandmother.
The ambulatory clinic setting is one Cynthia appreciates, having worked previously in hospital settings. “It was a transition, but ultimately it was the right choice as it allowed me to have work-life balance and spend more time with my family.” She notes the strong relationships she’s developed in her past workplace settings and her appreciation for meeting and working with such professional coworkers – and she’s excited to continue to build those relationships now at SJ Health.
Like several new team members at SJ Health, Sai Ravi Behara has a focus on quality improvement in his role as a project manager in the Business Intelligence unit, but his influence on quality outcomes is behind the scenes. “I’m working on aspects such as tracking our quality incentive payments, our quality data and reporting, dashboards, and other data-related content as we work with payers to strengthen our quality program partnerships,” says Sai.
Sai’s 17+ years of experience in healthcare IT, both within insurance companies and hospitals, has allowed him a “360-degree view” of quality programs as they’re viewed and operationalized by various stakeholders. Having worked as a consultant in the past, Sai says his new role with SJ Health leverages his experience while also giving him an opportunity to “branch out and expand my learning and expose me to new things professionally.”
Sai moved to USA following his undergraduate education (B.S. in Engineering) and consulted for Microsoft in Washington. Later he received his MBA from UCLA. His work soon became directed toward healthcare organizations.
Because his work is IT-focused, he pursues it virtually from Bakersfield, where he lives with his family, including his wife and three kids ages 2,5, and 12. “We’ve been in Bakersfield going on eight years – it’s been great for us as a family. There are many resources, shopping is in reach, there’s none of the hustle and bustle of bigger cities, and there’s affordability.” One family focus is tennis, as Sai’s daughter is a young athlete participating in USTA junior tournaments, and Sai spends much of his free time training her or viewing her coaching sessions.
Sai’s wife, a physician, brings a unique perspective to his healthcare IT work. “There are dinner table conversations about what she experiences, clinically as well as administratively, and it’s eye-opening and sometimes provides insights as to what physicians are dealing with that can inform how to approach an issue.”
SJ Health’s growing infrastructure toward improving quality is being led by recently arrived Mary-Lou Milabo, director of quality since November 2022. Mary-Lou describes her accountability as “upholding SJ Health’s organizational vision, mission and values as we pursue quality improvement, guided by state and federal guidance and that of our payer partners – HPSJ and Health Net.”
Mary-Lou has a longstanding interest in public health. Though she grew up in Berkeley, CA, her family is from the Democratic Republic of Congo, an area recognized as a hub for many preventable diseases. Though she was on a biological science track in college (U.C. Davis), she took a couple public health courses and that set her on a detour toward an MPH degree, and later an interest in healthcare quality.
She previously served a similar role at an FQHC in Contra Costa County, but with that focus on quality she was attracted to the opportunity to work at SJ Health. “I used to live in Tracy, so I was acquainted with the patient population,” shares Mary-Lou. “SJ Health has a wealth of resources in its staff. I was inspired by the individuals I met on the Quality team, and I enjoyed hearing the vision of Dr. Fadoo in terms of using quality as the base upon which we build.”
One of the projects Mary-Lou is furthering includes a grant-funded expansion of colorectal screenings using mail-in test kits, as well as increased outreach to patients to encourage in-office screenings. “We believe that with the convenience of the mail-in option, we will see increased uptake for this critical screening,” says Mary-Lou. More broadly, she’s engaging the team in reaching out to patients who haven’t had preventive screenings and demonstrate high no-show rates. “If we can help people understand the importance of these screenings, and build trust, we can increase the engagement,” says Mary-Lou.
Currently living in Discovery Bay, Mary-Lou indicates she may consider a move back to San Joaquin County soon. “I think engagement in your own community is important and makes a difference in your work,” she explains.
Mary-Lou says she looks forward to building upon the foundations and is excited to see an organization that backs what it says to stakeholders or in its strategy. “The updates that SJ Health has shared with the Board have been encouraging. There’s a demonstrated dedication to quality.”
A strategic objective for SJ Health is to expand community outreach, and Wendy Escamilla has been recruited as the health center’s outreach and engagement manager to develop these far-reaching initiatives.
Wendy, who joins SJ Health from an FQHC serving vulnerable populations in Contra Costa County, is excited to be working toward programs that directly impact patients in tangible ways. She’s currently developing policies and frameworks to support SJ Health’s Enhanced Care Management (ECM) program, which was launched last year with Health Plan of San Joaquin members and will soon be expanded to include Health Net members, too. She’ll also be working with Joan Singson and the mobile health center crew to further expand community-based care and to identify social service agencies, neighborhood groups and other trusted partners that can host mobile interventions.
Complementing her clinic experience, Wendy’s bilingual Spanish capacity, as well as her education in public health, management, and healthcare administration position her to bring new ideas, programs, and engagement opportunities to SJ Health patients.
Originally from Illinois, Wendy moved to the East Bay in 1985, and now calls Oakley home with her husband, a construction supervisor. She is the mom of six kids and is a proud grandmother to three. “I’m the babysitter, and I enjoy it,” shares Wendy. “I’m so blessed that my kids all get along – we enjoy spending time together. On any given weekend there’s always something that brings us together.”
While focused professionally on community health, personally she’s making health and wellness a personal priority as well. She’s taken on body building as a passion and is also exploring new ways of eating that support her healthy lifestyle. With such a large family, she acknowledges it can be challenging to align expectations related to food. “They have their snack area in the kitchen, and I have mine,” explains Wendy. “But they’ve come a long way in terms of eating new things, eating less frequently, or just trying to swap out more healthy options for some of our favorite things.” Wendy’s found it useful to use the Weight Watchers fundamentals as a platform for meeting some of her goals. “I’ve ‘detoxed’ from some of my past eating patterns and I’m not turning to comfort foods or eating or snacking as frequently.”
There’s no doubt Wendy’s commitment to living a healthier lifestyle will influence her capacity to engage with and relate to the SJ Health patients she’s planning to touch with outreach programs.