GH CAN Operations Committee 4/4/18

Greater Hartford Coordinated Access Network 

Operations Committee Meeting

Wednesday, April 4th, 2018

In Attendance:

Janet Bermudez, Hands on Hartford

Manuel Cadena, Catholic Charities

Roger Clark, ImmaCare

Stephanie Corbin, Mercy

Anita Cordero – ImmaCare

Rochelle Currie, The Connection

Sarah DiMaio, Salvation Army Marshall House

Fred Faulkner, The Open Hearth

Heather Flannery, South Park Inn

Maria Jackie Florez, Mercy

Ruby Givens-Hewitt, My Sisters’ Place

Kelly Gonzalez, JH

Lisa Quach, JH

Rebekah Lyas, ImmaCare

Geri Maciel, Salvation Army Marshall House

Kyren McCorey, The Open Hearth

Maureen Perez, CRT/McKinney Shelter

Natalie Ramos, ImmaCare

Jamie Randolph, Salvation Army Marshall House

Chris Robinson, Salvation army Marshall House

Luz Serrano, ImmaCare

Monique Shand, YWCA

Wendy Walker, McKinney

Niya Solomon, Journey Home

Zoe Schwartz, CRT

Case conferences:

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1.      Coordinated Entry:

a.      Warming Center Update: The Warming Center closed on the morning of 4/1/18. On the last night, they were down to 20 people total. There were 10 shelter beds open. Kelly filled 8 beds. At 9:30 p.m., there were 12 people left. As of mid-March, there were 423 unique individuals that had been served. This number does not include families in overflow or motel/hotel. The overflow had over 200 individuals so that is almost 700 people combined. The overflow for families was supposed to close on 3/31/18 but it is still somewhat in operation. There are still 3 families left in overflow at Marshall House.  The firm date of discharge is Monday due to renovations being done at Marshall House.  All the families are matched to housing. They should sign leases before Monday. If not, Salvation Army will reach out to shelters to transfer the families. Everyone at the warming center got counted as unsheltered for PIT because there were no beds. This will really ding GH CAN numbers. Sarah believes some people may still be trying to sleep around the Willie Ware area. They will be finishing HMIS data entry by 4/15/18. If anyone needs residency letters, please contact Ymonne.

b.      Coordination with diversion center:  We are back to where we were last fall with shelters reporting availability and then diversion calling for beds directly. They have developed a new policy to help keep the shelter priority list cleaner. If a client has been on list for 90 days and has not made any attempt to call 211 to check on the status, they will be removed.

                                                    i.     The diversion center and YWCA are doing shelter waitlist cleanup.  Sarah DiMaio suggested that the families waitlist should be wiped clean because there aren’t any literally homeless families in GH CAN. If we are not adding doubled up – safe to the waitlist and there are no literally homeless families, there shouldn’t be a waitlist. For families reporting to be literally homeless at CAN appointment, offer them a lobby or waiting room. In past experience, most won’t show.

                                                   ii.     Clients who are calling 211 within 48 hours of homelessness are coming back when they are homeless. There is no way for follow up and it is not a good use of time to see the same client back to back. They suggested having an outreach phone number at the diversion center for folks to call and report their unsheltered location. There will be a person assigned each day and responsible for checking and adding to outreach referral form. Stephanie will see if there is a phone line available.

2.      Next Steps Tool – Rochelle.

a.      For individuals between 18-24, make sure you’re doing the next steps tool, not the VI-SPDAT. From January to March of 2018, they were at 84%. If someone had an incorrect VI-SPDAT done, an NST should be re-administered. If doing a NST, do it on the same ID that the VI-SPDAT was done. What about doubled up unsafe for youth? If doubled up unsafe, can complete Next Steps Tool. The state is trying to come to consensus about this. The Connection only calls if youth are reporting to be unsheltered after they’re on the shelter waitlist from MDC. They have been doing it for the last 6 weeks and seeing a difference.

3.      Leadership Updates: Do not upload medical records in HMIS. Since HMIS ROI is not HIPPA compliant release, medical records should not be uploaded to CT HMIS. You are now advised to note in HMIS that you have medical records “on file” so that others know you have them. They need to be stored in your office as a hard copy. Rebekah mentioned that when a provider has medical records, they cannot provide it to other providers but can give it to the client to give to provider.