Weekly News: Decreasing Emergency Room Visits & Making Sure that Clients Meet Their Medical Needs
I’m Danna and I’m the Medical Case Manager for Hospitality House. I connect our guests with medical services as well as handle their medical insurance needs.
This month, I have been heavily focused on working with our clients to get them assigned to a primary care provider. Over the last month I have helped ten clients sign up for a primary care with our local clinics, Chapa-De Indian Health Grass Valley and Western Sierra Medical Clinic . For many of our clients, the process of assigning themselves to a provider is more difficult than they are able to pursue themselves. This results in many of them using the emergency room as their default option for medical care. Assigning them to a provider usually starts with calls being made to our local Social Services Office in order to determine the status of their medical insurance. Once their insurance has been successfully assigned to the provider, I then assist clients in completing their new patient paperwork and help with gathering any other required documentation. Due to COVID-19, first appointments are usually conducted over the phone and/or on zoom before they go in for an in-person meeting with their doctor. This process allows our clients to have care that better accommodates their needs and allows us to request referrals for any potential conditions that require evaluation from a specialist. This in turn alleviates the emergency room from an unnecessary influx of our clients and helps to guarantee that their medical concerns are properly addressed. We will continue to assist our clients and make sure that they get the resources needed for a healthy and safe lifestyle.
We want to take a moment to thank our members of our Hearts & Hands Club, a group of wonderful people who donate every month to support the efforts of Hospitality House. Hearts & Hands Club donations are allocated toward the greatest needs, including but not limited to shelter, food, clothing, outreach, housing assistance, case management, and job training. Thank you, club members! If you are not a member, please consider joining our Hearts & Hands Club. We have an ambitious goal this month to welcome 25 new members and we hope our next new member is you! Giving as little as ten dollars each month equals to ten meals. To join the club, visit hhshelter.org or call 530-615-0852.
Normally at this time we thank all the cook groups who came and cooked over the last week, but to keep our shelter safe, our cook groups are supporting our meals by donating financial support and food, and Chef Chris is safely cooking all meals instead. We’d like to thank Sierra Nevada Memorial Hospital, Nevada City United Methodist Church, IFM Impastas, Saint Patrick’s Rookies, Jazzercize, The Home Team and Crossroads Church for all their help. To everyone who donated our most needed items last week, thank you as well!
Now down to the nitty gritty needs of the shelter for this week…
• Men’s pants, *only size 32-34
• Men’s gym shorts
• Men’s & Women’s shorts and tank tops
• Adult coloring books
• Colored pens and pencils
• Any crafts that can be done by one person
• Deodorant
• Hand sanitizer
• Body soap
• Shampoo and conditioner, regular sizes
• Bleach
• Bottled water
• Guitar picks
• New pillows
• New blankets
Anyone who has upgraded their personal assist devices, and have old ones just lying in their dresser drawer, please consider donating these gently used items:
• Diabetes test kits (Glucose meter & test strips)
• Hearing aids, any condition
• Eyeglasses, any kind
• Earplugs
We will be delighted to have these items for repurposing to any shelter guests with those specific needs.
Please drop off urgent items to Utah’s Place, located in Brunswick Basin, past the DMV, at 1262 Sutton Way. For a tax receipt, please ring the doorbell and wait for someone to come outside to assist you. We greatly appreciate the community’s help at such times of certainty. If we all stick together, we’ll get what we need. Thank you!