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San Joaquin County Clinics Team Newsletter #6 – September 2022
Welcome to the September issue of The Pulse, SJ Health’s monthly newsletter. It’s an interesting climate as we close out the summer with record-breaking temperatures while concurrently welcoming Pumpkin Spice Lattes! I hope you’re finding some seasonal activities to enjoy.
As always, I want to thank all of you for your hard work and your continuing commitment to ensure that our patients have access to high-quality health care. You are making a huge difference in their health and well-being.
We’re excited to enter the fall with several interesting projects and efforts underway at SJ Health, and I’d like to highlight a few key activities we have been working on to advance our mission.
Strengthening Resource Development:
There are approximately 120 FQHC Look-Alikes (LALs) nationally. While required to provide the same services and meet the same compliance requirements as Section 330-funded FQHCs, unfortunately LALs are not eligible for the majority of HRSA grant funding.
To help address this issue, SJ Health volunteered for and was selected as one of 19 FQHC Look-Alikes (LALs) nationwide to serve on a special taskforce convened by the National Association of Community Health Centers (NACHC). This taskforce is working with HRSA on opportunities to increase awareness among elected federal officials of the massive funding disparity between LALs and 330-funded health centers in order to secure additional federal financial support for LALs. We are encouraged by the fact that the Biden administration and the current congressional composition are favorable to fortifying the strength and fiscal position of the nation’s health centers.
Building Our Workforce:
SJ Health welcomes two new internal medicine physicians, Hina Farooq, MD and Richa Handa, MD.
Dr. Farooq joined SJ Health on August 29, arriving from Chicago where she just finished an Infectious Disease fellowship at Rush University Medical Center. Dr. Farooq is board certified in Internal Medicine (IM) and board eligible in Infectious Disease. She speaks Urdu, Hindi, and English and will be on IM faculty, seeing IM patients, and launching an infectious disease clinic. Dr. Farooq came to SJ Health after completing her residency to rejoin her husband in California. They live in Tracy and enjoy traveling and exploring new places and new restaurants.
Dr. Handa completed her IM Residency at Henry Ford Allegiance Health in Jackson, MI. and comes to us from Neighborhood Health Association, a Federally Qualified Health Center in Toledo, Ohio. She enjoys working in a FQHC because of the patient population she is able to help. Dr. Handa, her husband, and her children (a 15-month-old boy and a 2 ½-year-old daughter) are looking forward to moving to Tracy to be closer to extended family. She starts at SJ Health on September 12 and will be seeing patients while also serving as IM faculty. Outside of her clinical time, Dr. Handa enjoys traveling and trying new restaurants.
When introducing yourselves and welcoming Dr. Farooq and Dr. Handa to SJ Health, please give them your recommendations on great places to visit in Northern California as well as your favorite restaurants.
To help develop our future workforce, SJ Health recently launched a partnership with University of the Pacific (UOP) and its physician assistant, pharmacy, social worker, nutrition, and athletic trainer programs. Through this partnership, Pacific students will receive practical hands-on clinical training at SJ Health. SJ Health believes that these programs will serve as natural feeder pathways to our workforce since these students will get a sense of SJ Health while they are in training, improving our ability to recruit them to come to work for us.
Nurturing Partnerships:
While now operationally independent of San Joaquin General Hospital, SJ Health remains strongly committed to its historic relationship with the hospital. SJGH specialists are the primary source of specialty care for our patients, and SJ Health’s primary care services are a critical point of care for many of the hospital’s patients. Though there has recently been a change in leadership at San Joaquin General Hospital, with SJGH’s July 1, 2022 implementation of a management services agreement with Dignity/CommonSpirit Health, both SJ Health and SJGH recognize the continued importance of collaboration and the mutual benefit that each organization realizes by its relationship with the other. Leadership from both organizations are in regular communication about shared objectives and initiatives.
Expanding Access Points:
SJ Health is expanding access to south county residents by reopening the Manteca Health Center, with a planned launch date of November 15. When SJ Health closed the Manteca Health Center in June 2020, SJ Health was in a weak financial position and the Manteca Health Center was projected to continue to undermine SJ Health’s finances for the foreseeable future. Since the closure of the Manteca clinic, SJ Health Centers has undergone major organizational transformation and significantly improved its operations and financial strength.
As SJ Health now follows its strategic plan and looks to expand access points and grow its patient population, the documented lack of access for low-income residents of the Manteca area, the more than 4,000 patients from the Manteca area that SJ Health is currently serving at its French Camp and Stockton sites, improved financial strength, and the low-cost of reopening the Manteca site led SJ Health leadership and its board of directors to recommit to services in Manteca.
The health center will be staffed by Family Medicine physicians and nurse practitioners and will offer the full range of services offered by SJ Health. In its Change in Scope request, SJ Health conservatively estimated that it will serve approximately 2,000 existing patients and 100 new patients annually at its Manteca Health Center.
Patients in need of SJ Health services not available at the Manteca Health Center will be referred to SJ Health’s French Camp site. SJ Health will be exploring offering dental, vision, and integrated behavioral health services at this site over time.
Thanks again for all that you do to help improve the health and well being of our patients and the community. Please let us know if there is anything or anyone you would like us to highlight in the Pulse going forward.
As revenue cycle manager, a new position at SJ Health, Emily plays a critical role for our health center – she keeps our revenue coming in to support the services we provide. Through patient billings, reimbursement from our health plan partners, and reconciling payments from the various health coverage programs SJ Health accepts, Emily plays one of many important “behind the scenes” roles that often go unseen by coworkers.
Emily joined SJ Health from a finance role at Brighter Beginnings, a health and social services nonprofit with clinics in Contra Costa County. She’s passionate about the contributions that her employers make in the community. “It’s important work,” she said. “Many people are dealing with social determinants of health, financial challenges, housing issues – and health centers like ours are unique and especially suited to deal with all of this,” said Emily, noting the distinction between health centers like SJ Health and other primary care providers.
Emily has longstanding roots in the Martinez area, and enjoys outdoor activities with her husband, Gavin, who works at the Chevron refinery in Richmond, and her two sons, aged 8 and 9. Walks, hikes, museum visits and mini golf with the family fill up her free time.
You may want to ask Emily for her autograph, too. At age 5 or 6 she was an extra in a 1989 Sundance Movie Festival-released thriller directed by her godfather. Ask her what it was like “clowning around” on the set to hear some of her memories from the experience and learn about the movie.
“Our sexual health program at SJ Health has huge value,” exclaimed Dr. Estafania Way. “We’re doing important work here that impacts not just the patient but their family, their partner, and the community.”
Dr. Way spends Thursday afternoons seeing an average of 8 or more patients for sexually transmitted disease treatment — mostly HIV, Hepatitis C and Syphilis – with referrals typically coming from area hospitals, San Joaquin County Public Health Services, or local laboratories.
Support for the patient goes beyond treatment and includes social services and referrals to community resources for the patient and their partner. Occasionally, someone whose partner tested positive for HIV will come in for Pre or Post Exposure Prophylactic (PrEP or PEP), and then bring in their partner.
She describes the initial visit as the most critical, with the patient looking for answers, reassurance that treatment will work, and most importantly, compassion.
“Sometimes, they just feel lost, and here we provide them with a safe, caring place,” explained Dr. Way. Added Surisa Ambriz, the outpatient clinical assistant who supports the clinic, “There are many stories that led people here. Our responsibility is to make sure every patient feels cared for, and we help however we can.”
Dr. Way is thankful to her predecessor, Dr. Juan Chiriboga, for passing the clinic on to her, and is now committed to expanding wraparound services for her patients, many of whom are facing challenges including finances, barriers to obtaining lab work, and others.
“It can be frustrating, but we are making such a difference in their lives, said Dr. Way. One patient shared how he and his partner would not have received this much help were they back in their own country. “Although he has other challenges to overcome, he is extremely grateful. So, you see, it is also very rewarding work.”
A nationwide acknowledgement of nonprofit health centers was the perfect opportunity for SJ Health to celebrate its community partnerships and the people we serve, including some of the most vulnerable residents in our community. National Health Center Week also provided SJ Health a forum to show appreciation to our dedicated staff and patients.
“Thank you for making your appointment today,” nurse care manager Rohini Mehta told a French Camp patient. “We really appreciate you trusting us for your care,” she added, as she offered the patient treats from her cart. Patients at both the French Camp and Stockton sites were happily surprised to find cookies, fruit snacks and other goodies in the waiting room and at nurse stations.
Some patients, like Katie Daily, were glad to pose for pictures. “Wait! Let me get my baby in the picture,” said Katie, as she propped up her infant Jason in his carrier. “Now we can be famous!” She also expressed her appreciation for the care they both get at SJ Health — from the registration clerks, the clinic support staff, and the provider.
SJ Health also surprised staff with breakfast on Friday, August 12th. Our staff
are the superheroes who show their commitment to providing high quality care to patients day after day, and, importantly, embody the compassion and spirit that reflects why SJ Health and other nonprofit health centers are critical in their communities and worthy of national recognition.
Lastly, but certainly not without significance, SJ Health proudly accepted a publicly-presented proclamation from the San Joaquin County Board of Supervisors acknowledging its contributions to our community and the dedication of our providers, staff and leadership to improving the health status of those we serve.
National Health Center Week was a time for SJ Health to shine! To all SJ Health staff, “Thank You for all that you do!”