Community Health Programs
Sutter’s mission extends beyond the walls of our care facilities. We put our mission into action by investing in community-based services, mobile clinics, transportation services, prevention and wellness programs, and much more.
A community partnership with Mills-Peninsula Health Services, the Bay Area Community Health Advisory Council (formerly the African American Community Health Advisory Committee) raises awareness of the major health concerns and issues affecting African Americans, and actively promotes a more healthful lifestyle. Learn more about the Bay Area Community Health Advisory Council.
A comprehensive, community-based child and adolescent healthcare center, the Bayview Child Health Center provides high-quality pediatric primary care and serves as a hub for access to community resources.
really challenging.
It’s a hard area to live in, especially when you're trying
to raise a family.
It's just a struggle in general trying
to make sure that our kids are safe
and they have a good environment to grow up in.
Bayview is a community of families.
It has the highest density of children
and also the highest density of African-Americans
in the city of San Francisco.
And yet we know that this community unfortunately
also sees some of the worst health disparities
in the city of San Francisco.
We take our children to the Bayview [Child] Health
Center on Third Street.
The Bayview Child Health Center is a pediatric clinic
that was created in 2007.
Bayview Child Health Center really means a lot to us.
They've been with us since our oldest was three.
It's more than just, you know, medical work.
The doctors are out in the community,
getting to know the people that are here in the neighborhood
and wanting to serve them where they’re at.
Sutter Health has been a true partner to this community
and that's one thing that we don't often
see in underserved communities.
It makes health care accessible for families
in low-income areas.
And what started off as a little pediatric clinic
has grown to include mental health services, case
management services, home visiting.
The clinic has a very closely partnered with the Center
for Youth Wellness that provides wraparound services
and really that has been identified as some of the most
promising practices for healing some of the real issues that
are affecting some of the kids in this community.
My hopes and my dreams for my family
is just to see them grow and develop into healthy children
and they become leaders in their community.
Sutter Health is a part of Health Action, a partnership of local leaders, organizations and individuals dedicated to improving health and well-being and reducing disparities across Sonoma County. Its in-depth report, A Portrait of Sonoma County, focuses on how county residents are faring in three fundamental areas: life expectancy, education and income. Based on the human development approach, it puts people at the center of an analysis to assess the opportunity each of us has to live up to our full potential. To that end, the report examines disparities within Sonoma County among neighborhoods and along the lines of race, ethnicity and gender, drawing connections between the multiple factors that influence health. It helps us identify specific places and populations in the county where we have the potential to positively affect health outcomes.
This consortium of more than 20 healthcare providers and educators throughout Sonoma County, including Sutter Santa Rosa Regional Hospital, encourages high school students of diverse backgrounds to pursue careers in healthcare. Through job shadowing, mentoring, financial aid and college application assistance, and other services, the unique program works to develop a more culturally competent workforce.
Offered through the Mission Bernal campus of CPMC, HealthFirst provides preventive care and education for uninsured and underinsured patients with chronic illnesses, such as asthma or diabetes. This no-cost program empowers patients to self-manage chronic illnesses and improve their quality of life. It provides tailored information on nutrition, physical activity and taking medication. Community health workers who speak Spanish and English are also available to help patients access and navigate additional healthcare resources.
for a long, long, long time.
There is still a lot of need of finding
bridges between doctors and services
in our minority communities.
So HealthFirst makes sure that patients
don't fall into the cracks.
Good afternoon.
HealthFirst, Arturo speaking.
Hola, Maria.
[SPEAKING SPANISH]
HealthFirst provides free education and services
for patients with chronic conditions like asthma,
diabetes, hypertension.
We do a lot of case management to identify
any barriers that have to do with housing or access to food.
Because how can you tell someone, eat healthy,
go do exercise, if they don't have enough money for food,
or they live in an area that it's not safe?
A lot of our patients are monolingual with low writing
and reading skills.
It's just very difficult for them navigating the health
system.
Someone like Maria-- she was having issues with insurance.
She didn't speak the language.
It is very easy to get lost in the system.
She is 32 years old, but she's been a diabetic
since she was 14 years old.
For someone that is diabetic, we want a hemoglobin A1c
of 7 or below.
When she came in, her A1c was really, really high.
It was in the 12s.
She was having dizziness.
She was having blurry vision, headaches.
She wasn't taking her medication the way she was supposed to,
so we start working with her with the medication.
We start talking about food, physical activity.
MARIA: [SPEAKING SPANISH]
ARTURO FLORES: Right now, her A1c,
we have been able to lower it to 8.
Her blood sugars are all within the normal range.
The stuff that she's learning here about healthy eating,
I think it will benefit her whole family.
She knows, now, the importance of being healthy.
When you see someone like her-- she came in very, very sick,
and now, you see her numbers, and you see her A1c.
I love it.
I really, really love it.
Because our communities face all these barriers,
all these issues.
It just feels good that that's something
that we can help them to overcome,
that we are sure that they are going to get
the services that they need.
And that's what HealthFirst does.
Contact Us
1580 Valencia Street
San Francisco, CA 94110
Hours: 9:00 am – 5:00 pm, by appointment only
415-641-2160
415-865-4159 fax
Referrals
HealthFirst accepts referrals from primary care physicians and specialists. We’re working to expand our patient base by partnering with other community-based primary care physicians.
For providers: Fax completed referral form to 415-865-4159: Referral Form PDF
For patients: Speak to your primary care provider or call our office at 415-641-2160
Some patients face difficult end-of-life decisions as they’re leaving the hospital. Peninsula Circle of Care often refers those ready to stop medical intervention to Mission Hospice & Home Care. On an average day, Mission Hospice serves 240 people with hospice service and 85 patients in a palliative care program. The program also provides transitional care for 85 individuals who have a life-limiting illness but aren’t ready for palliative care or hospice.
Through our partnership with this community resource, we help ensure that more than 16,000 underserved San Franciscans receive access to personalized healthcare.
Across the Greater Bay Area, multiple Sutter Health locations partner with Operation Access to donate outpatient surgical and specialty care for uninsured and underserved people in our communities.
Peninsula Circle of Care, a partnership between Mills-Peninsula Medical Center and Peninsula Family Service, started with a grant from an anonymous donor to Mills-Peninsula Hospital Foundation. The program connects patients to the services they need to transition from the hospital to their home or other care settings. Services include help with healthcare and medications, food, a medical alert system, home modifications like handrails, low-cost resources and more.
The Mills-Peninsula Medical Center staff includes a team of nurses, while Peninsula Family Service provides social workers and wellness coaches, who make home visits.
Samaritan House improves access to primary and specialty care by providing screenings, radiology and labs to uninsured and underinsured people. It offers two free medical and dental clinics — in San Mateo and Redwood City — to about 2,500 uninsured or underinsured households throughout the county.
Mills-Peninsula Medical Center has been a key supporter of the Samaritan House for more than 25 years. It supports the San Mateo Free Clinic with laboratory and radiology services, and several Mills-Peninsula doctors volunteer at the clinic.
Mills-Peninsula Medical Center also funds five medical respite beds at Samaritan House’s Safe Harbor Shelter for Mills-Peninsula Medical Center patients who don’t have a safe place to recover after release from the hospital. Safe Harbor Shelter is a 90-bed, 10-cot homeless shelter in South San Francisco.
To help families in need access primary medical care and to nurture the next generation of physicians in Sonoma County, Sutter Santa Rosa Regional Hospital supports the Santa Rosa Community Center's Residency Program. At Vista Clinic, family medicine doctors care for patients and receive outpatient training. More than half of all family medicine physicians practicing in Sonoma County have graduated from the residency program. Learn more about the Santa Rosa Community Health Center.
The Emergency Department Navigators are employees of WellSpace, a Federally Qualified Health Clinic. These individuals help interested patients find primary care physicians, medical homes and other services that provide the right care, in the right place, at the right time.
One of every six people in the United States goes hungry. To help fight hunger throughout Northern California, Sutter Health routinely donates to local food banks.
Memorial Medical Center has provided monetary donations for the Stanislaus County Health Services Agency, a primary care safety net clinic, in support of its mental health program. The agency improves access to mental health resources and reduces emergency department visits and admissions.
In partnership with WellSpace Health, the Salvation Army, local healthcare systems and the County of Sacramento, Sutter Medical Center, Sacramento provides the Interim Care Program, a temporary respite program for homeless clients who are discharged from one of the participating hospitals.
Since 2008, Sutter Health has donated nearly 250,000 pounds of medical equipment and supplies to communities in need — locally and worldwide — through our partnership with MedShare.
In partnership with the City of Sacramento, Sacramento County, The Sacramento District Attorney’s Office, The Sacramento Police Department, Volunteers of America, The Downtown Sacramento Partnership and Sacramento Self Help Housing, Sutter Medical Center, Sacramento helps provide homeless people with chronic substance use problems with care, counseling and additional resources.
The T3 (Triage, Transport and Treatment) program provides services to patients who seek emergency department care for needs that are best addressed through preventive measures and by primary care providers. Moving these patients from the emergency department improves the patients’ health by providing them with the appropriate care in the right setting while reducing the wait time in the emergency departments.
Sutter Tracy Hospital helped develop and fund the Tracy Family Practice to improve health and reduce the financial burden on uninsured local residents. The practice aims to reduce readmissions and overall inpatient length of stay to reduce emergency department impact. The Tracy Family Practice works with the Sutter Tracy Hospital pharmacy to do case management of uninsured people with chronic diseases.
The Women’s Center – Youth & Family Services, located in Tracy and supported by Sutter Tracy Community Hospital and Tracy Hospital Foundation, provides support, counseling and shelter services for women and children who have experienced domestic violence and sexual assault.