Community Healthcare: Building a Campus of Care

Through Community Grants, we are able to offer support to partners who share in our mission of improving the physical, mental and spiritual health of those least served.

Sharing in this mission, Haven for Hope, the largest, most comprehensive Homeless Transformation Campus in the United States, opened its campus to the San Antonio community in 2010. Their 37-acre plot of land houses over 70 nonprofit and government partner agencies. Working independently, but in a unified manner, these agencies have collaborated to offer programming and services to those in need.

In 2008, MHM contributed $7.1 million, the single largest donation received, toward the construction of Haven for Hope. Additionally, MHM has partnered with some of the onsite agencies at Haven for Hope to further support this community health care model.

SAMMinistries, Spiritual Services

SAMMinistries is an interfaith ministry whose mission is to help the homeless and those at risk of becoming homeless attain self-sufficiency by offering, with dignity and compassion, shelter, housing, and services. In June 2010, SAMMinistries completed transitioning program guests from the downtown SAMM Shelter to the new facility located at the Haven for Hope campus.

Upon initial relocation, SAMMinistries’ residential facility occupied over 45% of the campus providing housing for men, women, and family residents. SAMMinistries continues to minister to those in need by offering spiritual services, job readiness training, education assistance and in-kind donations. At a recent visit to the facility, we were introduced a 24 year old named Stephanie who came to call SAMM home in December 2011. A native of Puerto Rico, Stephanie’s transition into a new, unfamiliar community proved challenging and with two young children at her side, she ended up homeless. But things are leveling up for this family. Within less than a year at SAMM, Stephanie is close to obtaining her High School diploma.

“They make you feel like family here. I felt alone my whole life. I am not lonely anymore. I have a family,” Stephanie relishes. She hopes to continue her studies and become a medical assistant.

SAMMinistries became an MHM funded partner in 2008.

The Center for Health Care Services, Mental Health and Substance Abuse Treatment Clinic

The Center for Health Care Services improves the lives of people with mental health, developmental disabilities, and substance abuse challenges.

In Prospects Courtyard, where many take shelter from the streets, the Center for Health Care Services staff work to encourage the mentally ill to seek assessment at their walk-in psychiatric outpatient clinic while living on campus. The Center for Health Care Services offers an intensive treatment program, medication stabilization and monitoring, case management and rehabilitation, benefit procurement and nursing assessments.

Along with these services, the Center offers a Mental Health dormitory for prospects exhibiting symptoms of mental illness.

MHM welcomed The Center for Health Care Services as funded partner in 2012.

Our Lady of the Lake University, Community Counseling

In partnership with Haven for Hope, the Our Lady of the Lake University (OLLU) Graduate Program in Counseling Psychology offers three distinct services to campus residents: counseling, assessment, and group therapy. By providing an estimated 700 contact hours of mental health care, this program aims to improve the day-to-day functionality of clients so that root causes of homelessness may be addressed.

By exposing graduate counseling students to practice with the homeless population, this partnership also helps to address the mental health workforce shortage as it relates to the underserved.

OLLU became an MHM funded partner in 2011.

Family Violence Prevention Services, Inc., Community Based Counseling

The mission of Family Violence Prevention Services (FVPS) is to break the cycle of violence and to strengthen families by providing the necessary tools for self-sufficiency through the delivery of emergency shelter, transitional housing, education, effective parenting education, and early intervention with children and youth.

Joining the Haven for Hope campus in 2010, FVPS offers individual and group counseling for the homeless and victims of domestic violence. FVPS hopes to expand their services with the addition of a Children’s Counseling Program. This new program will provide individual and group counseling to children between the ages of 5 and 17 using a filial therapy model, which incorporates parents in the counseling process. Counselors will also provide in-home services to these children and their parents for up to six months after obtaining permanent housing in the community. FVPS anticipates implementing the new Children’s Counseling Program at Haven for Hope by October 1, 2012.

MHM welcomed FVPS as a funded partner in 2011.

CentroMed, Medical Services

CentroMed provides health care to the homeless at the Sarah E. Davidson Clinic located on the Haven for Hope campus. These services include family practice, pediatrics, pregnancy testing and family planning, lab and onsite pharmacy, and medial case management.

The majority of the Clinic’s patients fall at or below 150% of the poverty rate and do not have health coverage.

CentroMed has been an MHM funded partner since 1996.

San Antonio Christian Dental Clinic, Dental Care

The San Antonio Christian Dental Clinic (SACDC), at Haven for Hope, provides charitable dental care to impoverished and homeless persons in keeping with Christian ministry. Utilizing a corps of over 100 volunteer dental professionals, SACDC offers a wide range of dental services to Haven for Hope residents and the surrounding community including dental exams, cleanings, restorative dentistry, extractions, surgery and prosthodontics. Oral health education, a vital component of the program, is provided to further empower patients and support improved oral health.

Between January 2, 2012 and April 30, 2012, SACDC tracked over 3,400 patient visits.

MHM welcomed the SACDC as a funded partner in 2007.

I Care San Antonio, Vision Center

Founded in 1992, I Care San Antonio (ICSA) is a faith-based, medical organization managed primarily by volunteer doctors. Equipped with the latest technology and equipment, ICSA provides dilated eye exams, refractions and glasses, and medical and surgical eye care to those who cannot afford it.

In March 2009, ICSA relocated their vision center to the Haven for Hope campus. The majority of ICSA patients are low income families that are living below federal poverty guidelines throughout San Antonio and the surrounding area, while approximately 25% are Haven for Hope residents or homeless individuals.

ICSA became an MHM funded partner in 2008.

Since inception, MHM has provided nearly $500 million in healthcare services through our clinics and programs, as well as through our partnerships. MHM is proud to partner with organizations that share our mission and organizational objective of delivering healthcare and social services to the least served in the South Texas region. By strengthening other organizations' capacity to provide services, we achieve our
overarching goal of increasing access to care.

Our family of partners, working collectively to establish a campus of care on the Haven for Hope grounds, is a prime example of community health improvement in action.