Community Benefit Programs
Sutter Health Sacramento Sierra Region

T3 (Triage, Transport and Treatment)

The Sutter Health Sacramento Sierra Region is dedicated to increasing access to care and improving the health and wellness of people in our communities. One way we work to do this is by increasing access to health care through a variety of programs that serve medically indigent adults, women and children and low income residents in Sacramento, Placer and Yolo Counties.

We know that community health goes beyond the walls of our hospitals and we collaborate with local community programs to provide services that meet the needs of our community members.

For example, Sutter Medical Center, Sacramento is a proud, founding partner of T3 (Triage, Transport and Treatment) a pioneering program that provides services to patients who seek emergency room care for needs that are best addressed through preventive measures. This program is a model for the kind of change being called for in various health care reform plans. The program seeks to provide those who chronically use the emergency room for non-emergency care with a way to get the services they need from a primary care provider. Moving these patients from the emergency room improves the patients’ health by getting them the appropriate care in the right setting, reduces the wait for those seeking care for real medical emergencies and dramatically reduces costs to our health care system. The very high rate of homelessness in the T3 cohort, coupled with the dramatic decreases in clinical severity of clients who get homes, confirms that securing housing has very positive medical outcomes.

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CommuniCare Health Centers

Sutter Davis Hospital has partnered with CommuniCare Health Centers for more than 15 years to improve access to care for the uninsured and underinsured residents of Yolo County.

• Communicare Health Centers see more than 90,000 people per year and administer primary medical care, pediatrics, perinatal services, reproductive health services, dental services, optometry and behavioral
  health services.
• The centers are ready to work with clients who speak English, Spanish, Russian, Mien, Lao, Hmong,Punjabi/Urdu and more.
• Integrated Behavioral Health Services provide mental health services for adult patients being seen in CommuniCare’s primary care centers. These services are designed to address the multidimensional psychosocial needs of the client population as a part of thecontinuum of primary care services.
• The 2008 Migrant Health Center Outstanding Service Award, a prestigious national recognition, was presented to CommuniCare by the National Association of Community Health Centers at the annual National Farmworker Health Conference. CommuniCare was honored for an outstanding level of excellence in the migrant health care field and a high level of commitment and innovation in service to migrant farm workers and their families.

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Interim Care Program (ICP)

In partnership with the Salvation Army, The Effort, local health care systems and the County of Sacramento, Sutter Medical Center, Sacramento provides the Interim Care Program (ICP), a temporary respite program for homeless atients who are discharged from one of the participating hospitals. The program is designed to give patients without housing alternatives, a clean and safe place to heal for up to six weeks and comprehensive wrap-around services like substance abuse treatment, permanent housing and medical care. And in 2009, the ICP is piloting in Auburn in partnership with Placer County, the Gathering Inn, and the Advocates for Mentally Ill (AMI Housing).

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Project Fit America

Our youth development programs are based on an asset approach to engage youth, link them with caring adults and provide safe places for them to go. We have multiple programs that help children and teens learn to lead healthy lives. Exercise, nutrition and preventive healthy lifestyle programs are all part of ensuring a brighter, healthier future for our youth. For example, Sutter Auburn Faith Hospital, Sutter Roseville Medical Center and Sutter Medical Center, Sacramento have partnered with Project Fit America to help keep local school children healthy. Project Fit America is a program designed to promote healthy living and fitness in the nation’s youth and to establish fitness programs at local elementary schools. The goal is to improve fitness in youth and teach children to take personal responsibility for their health. By giving children a positive relationship with their bodies, they are likely to make healthier and informed decisions later in life.

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Capacity Building Initiative

As part of the Sutter Health Sacramento Sierra Region’s commitment to advancing community benefit, we seek to build the capacity of existing community assets. To this end, Sutter Medical Center, Sacramento launched a three-year capacity building initiative in 2008; and Sutter Auburn Faith Hospital and Sutter Roseville Medical Center embarked on the same effort in 2009.

Contributing resources to nonprofit organizations to increase their prospects for long-term stability supports our goal to decrease healthcare delivery costs and increase the overall health of our region’s residents. Through a partnership with 3Fold Communications, Sutter links nonprofit grantees with training, communications and technical assistance so these service providers increase their capacity in five key areas: Board and Staff Development, Branding and Communication, Financial Management, Program Development, and Strategic Alliances.

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Health Express

In order to increase access to health care services for Placer County seniors, disabled, and underserved populations, the Health Express was expanded in 2007 to include a larger population and provide last resort medically related transportation services within most of Placer county. Sutter Auburn Faith Hospital and Sutter Roseville Medical Center, in partnership with Seniors First, the Placer Collaborative Network, Kaiser Permanente and others, expanded Health Express to service almost 5,000 people in 2008. Through this service, we are able to ensure greater access to available health care services for the people who need them the most.

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Youth Development Network (YDN).

The Sutter Medical Center, Sacramento 2008 recipient of capacity building assistance was Youth Development Network (YDN). An experienced training organization that supports the positive development of youth, YDN responded enthusiastically to the capacity building opportunity. Together with 3Fold Communications, YDN was able to:

• Clarify the role of board members and attract diverse leaders in business, education and advocacy;
• Clearly articulate their value to prospective stakeholders, including donors;
• Generate new forms of revenue and offer services to new consumers;
• Develop new programs that add depth and breadth to their services; and
• Attract financial support and begin their 2009 budget year with 50% of their revenue secured.

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Health Education Council (HEC)

The Health Education Council (HEC) works in collaboration with schools, agencies and community groups in the Strawberry Manor/ Del Paso Heights neighborhoods to improve the physical and economic health of residents. The funding from Sutter Medical Center, Sacramento’s grant will help to expand and enhance the progression of the work to continue improving and sustaining the nutrition, food access and health of low income families and youth in the area, specifically for the ongoing EAT from the Garden! project at Grant High School which connects approximately 900 students and community members ages 9-45 with leadership development, healthy food choices and fresh food availability.

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Senior Recreation and Respite Program (R & R)

Because the senior population within Placer County is significant, Sutter Auburn Faith Hospital and Sutter Roseville Medical Center have multiple programs that focus on creating better health care access for those 60 years and older and the disabled.

The Senior Recreation and Respite Program (R & R) is designed to meet the needs of older adults with memory or physical impairment. The program provides recreational, social and educational activities for the participants and respite for caregivers to enjoy some free time to themselves. The staff is supported by its valuable team of volunteers and completed by personal care aides. R & R meets two times a week at the Maidu Community Center in Roseville, once a week in Dewitt Multipurpose Senior Center in Auburn, and twice a week at the Twelve Bridges Library in Lincoln.

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Multicultural Adult Day Care Outreach and Development Project

The Multicultural Adult Day Care Outreach and Development Project is funded by Sutter Medical Center, Sacramento in partnership with the City of Sacramento, Older Adult Services (City OAS), Asian Community Center of the Sacramento Valley (Asian CC) and the Del Oro Caregiver Resource Center. The City OAS has 15 years of experience providing dementia-specific adult day services through its Triple-R Program, educational workshops and support groups. For 35 years, Asian CC has worked to identify, develop and provide culturally sensitive health and social services for older adults and the Del Oro Caregiver Resource Center is part of a statewide system of resource centers serving family caregivers through a contract with the California Department of Mental Health. Through the SMCS Community Grants program, this collaborative project is designed to assist Latino and Asian families who provide care for an elder with dementia and/or depression.

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Survivor Planning Program

In collaboration with the Sun City Roseville Foundation, Sutter Roseville Medical Foundation and Sutter Auburn Faith Hospital Foundation, Sutter Roseville Medical Center and Sutter Auburn Faith Hospital have sponsored the Survivor PlanningProgram, designed to help Placer County residents prepare for the loss of a loved one. It is believed to be the first comprehensive program in the country dealing with planning for life as a survivor. The program is designed to assist in preparing for the loss and, when the time comes, dealing with the actual passing of a loved one and adjusting to a new future. In 2008 we made this program available in CD form so that people can access it on their computers, print forms multiple times and change information as necessary.

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Parents and Children Connecting Together or P.A.C.C.T.

The Cottage Housing, Inc., Parents and Children Connecting Together or P.A.C.C.T. collaboration focuses on families moving from homelessness and parents reunifying with children from foster care. The program has a specific concentration on the dynamics of reunifying families with support and services. Through the partnership with Sutter Medical Center, Sacramento, families will acquire and practice new tools for dealing with both the opportunities and stresses that arise during their transition process.

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Shaken Baby Syndrome Prevention

The Shaken Baby Syndrome Prevention Program is a collaborative, best-practice approach to reducing incidents of Shaken Baby Syndrome (SBS) in Sacramento and Placer counties. We work with KidsFirst and the Child Abuse Prevention Council, Sacramento, Sutter Medical Center, Sacramento (and the other Sacramento hospital systems,) Sutter Auburn Faith Hospital and Sutter Roseville Medical Center, to provide SBS information to new moms in our hospitals.

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Sutter Center for Health Professions (SCHP)

Helping people of all ages enter a career in health care is an important part of what we do. Through strategic programming, the Sutter Health Sacramento Sierra Region offers opportunities for people to explore in health care related careers. The Sutter Center for Health Professions (SCHP) is an 18-month accelerated nursing program that allows these new nurses to put their skills to use and immediately begin work as registered nurses in the greater Sacramento area community. The SCHP is a partnership between the Sutter Health Sacramento Sierra Region and the Los Rios Community College District that helps address the nursing shortage. Since August 2003, SCHP has been providing opportunities for a portion of students to complete nursing pre-requisite classes, or be accepted into the nursing program if the appropriate coursework has been successfully completed and other admission criteria is met. The SCHP reaches and recruits from at-risk communities and provides steady career opportunities to those who might not otherwise have access to health care career education.

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Job-Shadowing

We support students in achieving careers in health care and administration. And because of this, we support job-shadowing for students looking for careers in all aspects of health care. In fact, Sutter Medical Center, Sacramento founded the Encina High School Doctor and Nurse Preparatory Academy in collaboration with area hospitals, Sacramento State University and University of California, Davis, in hopes of channeling students into the medical field and providing a solution to the medical and clinical shortage. At Sutter Roseville Medical Center, we partner with Oakmont High School on the Oakmont Health Careers Academy, a three-year high school program, for students interested in exploring and preparing for careers in health care. Students in their junior year experience career options through job-shadowing professionals at Sutter Roseville Medical Center in many areas of health care, followed by a month of a hands-on clinical experience rotation. Students in their senior year participate in a 100-hour internship in the hospital setting. Sutter Roseville Medical Center then presents $7000 in scholarships every year to students who excel in the coursework and go on to pursue health-related degrees.

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