iHOST Collaboration Targets Homelessness
Indianapolis Community Mental Health Centers Announce New Program Targeting Homelessness Eskenazi Health Midtown Community Mental Health (Midtown) and Adult & Child Health, two leading central Indiana community mental health centers, are partnering with key human services agencies in a new collaboration to combat homelessness. Their proposal to streamline and coordinate services among area homeless intervention provider agencies has been awarded $2.4 million, three-year SAMHSA grant for the Indianapolis Homelessness Outreach and Services Team (iHOST). Comprised of staff from Midtown, Adult & Child Health, The PourHouse, Inc., Outreach Inc., and Horizon House, iHOST team members are combining their efforts to build a unified service approach for homeless persons also experiencing mental health and substance use disorders. By sharing information and coordinating services among the participant organizations, iHOST is able to achieve much greater efficiency than when working independently without coordination. Nationally and locally, the relationship between homelessness and mental illness is well known. The Office of National Drug Control Policy reveals approximately 30 percent of the chronically homeless population has a serious mental illness and around two-thirds have a primary substance use disorder or other chronic health condition. A 2015 Point-in-Time count identified 1,666 Marion County citizens as experiencing homelessness, one-fifth of the homeless population of the Hoosier state. Above and beyond barriers the homeless already face, the added challenge of addressing behavioral health needs can be overwhelming. “We have effective services for homeless persons in Indianapolis, but they’re not always in the same place or with a single agency,” said Margie Payne, Midtown CEO and Vice President of Mental Health Services. “iHOST is needed for the most complicated cases that involve multiple agencies.” Supported by the Coalition for Homelessness Intervention and Prevention (CHIP), iHOST is developing efficient assessment, intervention planning, and service delivery workflows among the member agencies. Persons enrolled in the program are supported by an individualized, strengths-based intervention plan. Medical care, mental health, and addictions services are linked to community housing and employment resources. The core of the project and organization of services, including data collection of evaluation measures, will rely on service providers communicating daily via real-time shared cloud-based client tracking software system, email, telephone and face-to-face meetings. “No one agency can do it all,” said Allen Brown, CEO of Adult & Child Health, “but when you refer to another provider, communication and duplication of efforts can be a problem. We appreciate now being at the table with other homeless providers, working smarter through technology so that persons get he absolute most out of available resources.” iHOST population of focus will be individuals who have (1) a substance use disorder (SUD), serious mental illness (SMI), serious emotional disturbance (SED), or co-occurring mental and substance use disorders (CODs); and (2) are either youth under 18 years of age, young adults between 18 and 24 years of age, or the chronically homeless, including those residing in jail or in the process of re-entry. Both Adult & Child Health and Midtown are accredited by the Joint Commission and leaders in the provision of behavioral hand primary health services in Central Indiana. For more information about this program contact: Dan Arens, MBA, FACHE, at 317-893-0336 or [email protected].
Adult & Child Health Partners with Jane Pauley Community Health Center for Integrated Care
Indianapolis Healthcare Providers Combine to Create Unique Integrated Care Program for Persons in South Marion County Research has demonstrated people with mental illness die 25 years younger than those without mental illness, primarily due to unmanaged chronic disease and reduced access to primary care. The National Healthcare Disparities Report states that, for persons with mental illness, “health care quality and access are suboptimal, especially for minority and low-income groups and while overall quality is improving, access is getting worse and disparities are not changing.” Adult and Child Health Services and The Jane Pauley Community Health Center, two Indianapolis area nonprofit healthcare organizations, have recently partnered to address this alarming trend. As a certified mental health center, in 2015 Adult and Child Health began looking for new ways to facilitate primary care for persons in its South Marion County service area. Allen Brown, CEO of Adult and Child Health, explains that “our Southside clinic is one of the busiest mental health centers in Indianapolis. Persons served at this location have a very difficult time accessing primary care, so rather than continuing to refer clients elsewhere, we decided it would be better to bring primary care providers into the mental health center.” In The Jane Pauley Community Health Center, Adult and Child found a partner with equally strong interest in behavioral health and primary care service integration. As a Federally Qualified Health Center dedicated to helping the medically underserved, Jane Pauley CHC provides comprehensive family practice services to patients in 15 clinics throughout the Indianapolis area. The two organizations share similar mission of providing affordable, high quality healthcare to individuals and families regardless of ability to pay. In 2016, following months of planning between agencies, The Jane Pauley Community Health Center won federal approval to open a primary care clinic within Adult and Child’s Mental Health Center at 8320 Madison Avenue. In this unique program, psychiatrists, family practice physicians, and nurses work side by side in close coordination, supporting persons with mental health and physical health needs. Marc Hackett, CEO of the Jane Pauley Community Health center explained, We’re a big believer in integrated approaches to patient care.” “Through our own behavioral health services within Jane Pauley clinics, and now in partnership with Adult and Child at the 8320 Madison Ave. location, this unified approach to patient care means better outcomes and less cost for the patients we serve.” On September 21, 2016, Indianapolis native and well known NCB new anchor Jane Pauley, after whom the Jane Pauley Community Health Centers are named, visited the site of this unique healthcare partnership to share words of inspiration and recognition for the efforts being taken to help persons with mental illness. Adult and Child Health, accredited by the Joint Commission, is a leading provider of behavioral health services in Central Indiana. The Jane Pauley Community Health Center is a Federally Qualified Health Center that provides high quality medical services to the Indianapolis area. For more information about this program contact: Dan Arens, MBA FACHE, at 317-893-0336 or [email protected]
Partnering to address services to Indy’s homeless population – iHOST
Months ago, a group of homeless service agencies in Indy pulled together to submit a federal grant proposal which would support a coordinated assault on the city’s homeless population. We’re super excited to announce our fine city has been awarded multi-year federal SAMHSA funding to implement iHOST! This is a great opportunity for all of us to get on the same page to better identify and serve people who experience homelessness. There are great people doing great work every day in Indy – now we can start doing great work together and create some synergy. iHOST, an integrated team of key staff, will represent Adult and Child Health, Eskenazi Midtown Mental Health, Outreach Inc, Pour House, and Horizon House. iHOST will build rapport among organizations and individuals experiencing homelessness; stabilize individuals with psychiatric symptoms; address addiction; assess the needs and barriers to treatment, housing and employment in the community; provide services or linkage to address those needs and barriers; help individuals obtain and maintain permanent housing and employment; link individuals to ongoing mental health and/or addiction services; and follow housed clients to ensure needs are addressed and to provide resources for success. For each client, participating service providers, including a case manager and housing staff, will develop an individualized care/intervention plan that utilizes a strengths-based approach. The core of the project and its organization of services, including data collection of evaluation measures, will rely on service providers communicating daily via a shared cloud-based client tracking software system, email, telephone, and/or face-to-face meetings. Led by the Coalition for Homelessness Intervention & Prevention (CHIP), the steering committee will meet quarterly to monitor the goals and objectives of the grant project; increase coordination with other entities engaged in planning the jurisdiction’s response to homelessness; and ensure the provision of direct treatment and recovery support service to the population of focus. The project’s population of focus will be individuals who have: (1) a substance use disorder (SUD), serious mental illness (SMI), serious emotional disturbance (SED), or co-occurring mental and substance use disorders (CODs); and (2) are either: youth under 18 years of age, young adults between 18 and 24 years of age, or the chronically homeless, including those residing in jail or in the process of re-entry.
A&C Health is expanding employment services to new populations.
Adult and Child Health, The ARC of Greater Boone County, Easter Seals Crossroads, and Sycamore Services have partnered to form the Central Indiana Pre-Employment Transition Services collaborative (Pre- ETS). These partners are agencies who support those with Intellectual and Developmental Challenges and we are very excited to be at the table to work with these partners and these people, due in large part, to the work of Carla Orr and her team. With funding from the Indiana Bureau of Rehab Services Pre- ETS will provide high quality Pre-Employment Transition Services for students with disabilities between the ages of 14 and 22. These new program services will engage students in up to 58 high schools across 9 Central Indiana counties including Marion, Hamilton, Hendricks, Hancock, Shelby, Johnson, Morgan, Boone and Rush. Our JobLinks staff will deliver services in several schools. We believe that the services made available through this funding, combined with the experience of our group of community rehabilitation providers will ultimately provide significantly improved outcomes for students with disabilities exiting their high school experience.
