Collaboration

1
Collaboration

• The Key to Success

2
Goals

• Participants will be able to
• Define collaboration
• Identify win/win situations
• Identify potential partners
• Identify and avoid potential pitfalls

3
Agenda

• Where did ETBHC start
• The first collaboration
• Development of the community buy-in
• Sustaining the collaboration
• What ETBHC learned
• Where we are going

4
Defining our Collaboration

• Our definition was to develop a team that
  included non-profit and for profit members to
  advance a common goal.
• We wanted members who would
• Share knowledge and learning
• Were creative and thought outside of the box
• Committed to the common good of the community

5
Collaborative Culture

• Starting with the Board, ETBHC developed a
  collaborative culture at all levels of the
  organization.
• Selection of Board members based on community
  involvement
• Our Board actively promotes collaboration at the
  community level
• Speakers
• Disseminating information

6
Collaborative Culture

• All staff members job descriptions include
  requirements to collaborate with the community
• Speakers
• Participate in health fairs
• Serve on other community coalitions
  organizations
• Serve on other boards
• Serving on emergency response teams

7
Choosing the Right Grant

• Questions to ask

• More Questions

• Will the grant further your mission?
• Do you have the infrastructure to support the
  grant?
• Will the community support the efforts?
• Can it be sustained?

• If new positions are required, does the area have
  the available, qualified workforce?
• Does it address an identified community need?
• Are you writing because you can?

8
ETBHC at the Beginning

• Reviewed the Outreach Grant and determined it
  would improve the community health as a whole by
  increasing access to mental health services.
• Reviewed the current partnerships and determined
  that the grant provided a means to further our
  common goals.
• Partners agreed that an outreach worker in the
  field would promote awareness and enhance access
  to services.

9
First Team

• First team included
• East Texas Council on Alcoholism Drug Abuse
• Community Healthcore (mental health provider)
• United Churches Care (faith community)
• East Texas Border Health Clinic
• All were chosen because they were committed to
  enhancing access to mental health/substance abuse
  services in the community and ETBHC had worked
  with agencies since 2004.

10
Grant Awarded What next?

• Read your work plan You will be held
  accountable
• Inform your partners start planning for
  sustainability
• HRSA has available TA ask for it if you need

11
First Things First

• ETBHC grant was initially written for a mid-level
  provider to do the outreach.
• What we discovered
• Mid-levels are not that available in East Texas
• Mid-levels when available do not want to do
  outreach
• If primary health care was provided through
  outreach, ETBHC would need a home health license.

12
First Things First

• What we did
• Contacted the Project Officer and asked the
  mid-level be changed to a nursing position.
• Hired a nurse to travel throughout the community
  to provide outreach services
• Primary health care services were provided in our
  clinics through referrals made by the Outreach
  Nurse

13
Developing Community Buy-In

• Needed to expand the collaboration
• Searched for members from
• School systems
• Aging
• Local businesses
• Indigent service providers
• Began formalizing and defining prior
  relationships and developing new relationships
• Each partner was responsible for bringing new
  partners into the collaboration

14
Develop Win-Win Situations

• Our agreements included
• Placing signs/info of available services in
  visible locations
• Agreeing to provide speakers, when appropriate
• Agreeing to provide space
• Agreeing to accept/refer to agency, when
  appropriate

15
Search for Partners

• Do not underestimate the number of partners you
  have
• Who are you working with that you do not have a
  Letter of Agreement?
• Define the efforts in a Letter of Agreement or
  Memorandum of Understanding

16
Look Everywhere

• Parent/Teacher Organizations / Colleges
• Area on Aging/Senior Centers
• Business Lowes / Wal-Mart / Walgreens
• Chamber of Commerce / Economic Development
• Local Churches /Auxiliaries / Rotary
• Other Coalitions / Initiatives
• County Extension / County Health Dept
• Home Health Agencies/Hospitals

17
Teamworks Today

• Collaboration named Just for the Health of It /
  Teamworks
• Members include
• County Extension County Emergency Preparedness
• Home Health Agencies Early Childhood Development
• Area on Agency Representative of State Senator
• Mental Health Provider School Nurse
• Substance Abuse Provider Department of State
  Health Services
• County Indigent Provider
• Insurance Agent

18
3 Year Goals

• Enhance care to 3000 low income individuals with
  chronic physical/mental illness
• Provide prevention education to 1500 patients
• Establish 4 Outreach Clinic sites
• Hold 200 clinic/consortium days
• Expand availability of rural health care by 1
• Provide healthcare/education to 20 new patients
  weekly/1000 new annually.

19
Quality Improvement Plan

• Systematically monitored efficiency /
  effectiveness of patient care
• Assure satisfaction of patient and their family
  members served
• Promoted excellence in patient care (monitored
  against established best practices)

20
Meeting our goals

• Held regular outreach clinics
• Maintained proper supplies
• Provided basic primary/preventive care
• Referrals to consortium members for mental
  health/substance abuse
• Maintained continuous communication with all
  consortium members
• Gathered necessary data to measure outcomes

21
Outreach Clinics
22
Consumers Educated
23
Access to Care
24
Increase to Mental Health
25
Sustainability

• Continue monthly consortium meetings
• Wrote other grants
• Out Stationed Medicaid Eligibility Worker

26
Next Year

• Program is changing
• Continuing consortium meetings
• Continuing case management
• Continuing attending other coalition meetings
• September 1, 2009 beginning digital screening for
  mental health issues in exam rooms
• Outreach at community health fairs and gatherings

27
What we learned

• Be flexible
• Always include your partners
• Do not promise something you cannot do
• Deliver high quality care
• Be consistent

28
Pitfalls

• Workforce was not available
• Case management and outreach services are not for
  everyone

29
Contact Info

• Wanda M. Kennel, PhD
• Chief Executive Officer
• East Texas Border Health Clinic
• P O Box 1326
• Marshall, TX 75671-1326
• Phone [phone]
• Fax [phone]
• Wanda.kennel_at_etborderhealth.org