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In Home Support for All: A Community Outreach Project
| Content Provider | Semantic Scholar |
|---|---|
| Author | Moll, Lily |
| Copyright Year | 2018 |
| Abstract | In Home Supportive Services Public Authority (IHSSPA) is a Medi-Cal funded organization that helps the elderly and disabled living in San Francisco find care and support at home. The Public Authority component of IHSS specializes in providing support to their clients or “consumers” when attempting to hire home care workers or “providers.” However, IHSSPA services remain relatively unknown throughout many communities in San Francisco county and there is a need for increased community outreach. To address this problem, communities that are currently underserved by IHSSPA were defined by their zip code. These communities were compared with data indicating which areas have high instances of seniors living in poverty (for target consumers), and high instances of unemployment (for target providers). In addition, a provider Focus Group elucidated current issues that providers encounter when enrolling in IHSSPA and being matched with consumers. Participants also offered suggestions on how to increase outreach to new providers. Direct community outreach was initiated by visiting community centers in neighborhoods with lower instances of consumer/provider residences, high instances of seniors living in poverty, or high unemployment. Staff at the participating community centers were interviewed and their prior knowledge of IHSSPA was assessed. Two community centers in the Richmond district of San Francisco agreed to display IHSSPA materials and offer them to clients. Finally, an online provider survey was utilized to gather data from 52 additional providers on themes initially identified in the provider Focus Group. Survey data supported certain themes in the Focus Group such as the tendency for consumers to request unauthorized tasks from providers. However, unlike the Focus Group, the survey data seemed to indicate increased satisfaction with training and consumer matching. Results from the provider survey also indicated Running head: SFIHSSPA Outreach Project ! of ! 3 52 there were few differences in opinion between those who had worked for a friend/family member, and those who had not. Key Words: In Home Supportive Services, Home care, Seniors, Community-Based, Outreach, Disabled, Independent Providers, IHSS Consumers Running head: SFIHSSPA Outreach Project ! of ! 4 52 Executive Summary Agency Background In Home Supportive Services Public Authority serves over 22,000 consumers in San Francisco and has currently enrolled 20,000 providers (IHSSPA, n.d.). Since 1992, the Public Authority component of IHSS has been integral to helping consumers find their appropriate home care worker or “provider.” San Francisco's increase in price of living over the years has forced many seniors living alone into poverty, unable to afford the in home care they need. To combat the issue, IHSS uses Medi-Cal to pay for provider's wages, and offers providers health benefits if they join the Public Authority registry. The services performed by providers are therefore needed by many seniors living in San Francisco in various neighborhoods. Project Aim This project aimed to expand knowledge of Public Authority services to previously underserved neighborhoods containing individuals in need of in home care and those who are in need of employment. Therefore, the target population was both providers and consumers with the goal of matching the two parties within the neighborhoods where they live. Data Collection Previous literature has indicated that effective outreach should meet target audiences where they live and spend a majority of their time. Therefore, this project focused on gathering data to assess provider and consumer needs in their various communities. Firstly, consumer and provider addresses were gathered from the Public Authority's mailing list and categorized by zip code. Provider and consumer residences in each zip code were compared to existing census data from the database Policy Map, to show potentially underserved target populations. The assumpRunning head: SFIHSSPA Outreach Project ! of ! 5 52 tions here were that communities with high instances of seniors living in poverty would be more likely in need of IHSSPA services, and communities with high unemployment would be more likely to show interest in becoming a provider. Furthermore, a provider Focus Group indicated that community centers were helpful in informing them how to become employed by IHSS. Community outreach was performed by visiting and contacting different community institutions. Staff at the community organizations were interviewed to assess their level of knowledge about IHSS services, and the types of information their clients would need to become more informed about these services. Finally, an online survey was sent to providers in order to gather data about the challenges in enrolling for the position and being matched with a consumer. Results Data from provider and consumer mapping showed that residences for both parties were disproportionally located in one or two main zip codes. For consumers, the highest percentage of residences are located in the Tenderloin/ North of Market neighborhood, and for providers, the highest percentage lived in Crocker Amazon/ Excelsior, followed closely by residences outside San Francisco county. When performing community outreach it was discovered that out of five community resource centers visited, zero had any information posted about IHSS or even the overarching Department of Aging and Adult Services (DAAS). However, staff at two of the resource centers were eager to post information about IHSS including postcards on upcoming trainings and information on how to become a provider or consumer. Community center staff also expressed interest in having IHSSPA come to their space to make a presentation and educate their clients. Running head: SFIHSSPA Outreach Project ! of ! 6 52 By increasing outreach to community resource centers, consumers could potentially find more providers that live within their own community and visa versa. An IHSSPA provider survey indicated that 72% of providers agreed that they would be able to take on more consumers if they all lived within the same neighborhood. To this point, providers may be able to handle more consumers and earn more money if the consumers they work for are centered in their own community. Unlike the Focus Group participants, survey participants believed that they were able to maintain a professional relationship with their consumer, and believed that the consumer was a good match for them. These opinions were consistent between providers who had worker for a friend/ family member and those who had not. Implementation and Recommendations By presenting this data and points of communication to different community resource centers, IHSSPA can continue to perform community outreach even after this project is finished. This outreach will foster sustainable provider/consumer relationships in underserved neighborhoods. Sustainable outreach will involve keeping open lines of communication with community center staff, and replenishing educational materials at these sites when needed. Literature Review Introduction Since 1973, In Home Supportive Services (IHSS) has served low income seniors (aged 65 and over) and disabled individuals in California (CICAIHSS, n.d.). These individuals are known as IHSS “consumers” who are matched with home care workers or “providers.” A provider could be a chosen family member or friend, or someone independently contracted to provide assistance to the consumer with tasks such as bathing, cleaning, laundry, etc. Over the Running head: SFIHSSPA Outreach Project ! of ! 7 52 years, some of the challenges IHSS has faced include engaging their target population of consumers and matching them with available providers. The consumers are often living alone with little social support and access to transportation, decreasing their reachability. Consumers also face challenges when enrolling for services because they may have auditory, visual, or cognitive disabilities. The multiple steps needed in order to apply for IHSS services, hire a provider, and manage provider time sheets can be overwhelming to this vulnerable population. For this reason, there is a high instance of consumer dropout. In San Francisco, the Public Authority component of IHSS has sought to decrease instances of dropout by providing consumers with additional support such as the use of mentors. Mentors are consumers who have successfully hired their own provider and have received training on instructing others to do the same. Mentors help guide the consumers through the process of enrollment and hiring a provider. However, multiple modalities of continual outreach may be needed to increase consumer enrollment and prevent consumer dropout. Some of these modalities include community-based outreach, referral-based outreach, and advertisement/informational outreach. Another target audience to IHSS is comprised of the independent providers. Providers have their own challenges when enrolling and finding consumers for whom they feel comfortable working. Currently, a high percentage of San Francisco IHSS consumers have providers that live outside of San Francisco county and may travel as long as three hours to get to work. In addition, providers may have difficulty completing the enrollment process which takes time and additional cost. Fortunately, because provider demand is high in San Francisco county their is a good chance of employment for potential providers. However, outreach for both target audiences Running head: SFIHSSPA Outreach Project ! of ! 8 52 needs to be improved upon so that consumers and providers may establish and maintain stable working relationships. Challenges to Consumer Outreach For consumers to enroll and participate in public health programs such as IHSS, substantial social support is often needed to guide them through the multiple steps. Social support comes from a variety of differ |
| File Format | PDF HTM / HTML |
| Alternate Webpage(s) | https://repository.usfca.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1914&context=capstone |
| Language | English |
| Access Restriction | Open |
| Content Type | Text |
| Resource Type | Article |
