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element of whole patient care, especially when treating
individuals who are a part of underserved or lowincome
communities, is housing and how that relates to
successful medical care. The housing first idea “means
that in order to begin to have someone feel safe and
healthy they need to be housed,” says Bazile. Through its
Supportive Housing Program (SHP), LifeLong Medical
Care is able to partner with subsidized affordable housing
facilities and programs to help individuals with histories
of homelessness receive medical care. “We are taking
healthcare services into supportive housing programs
where those individuals are probably recovering addicts,
or have some addictions, and who are probably not
getting the healthcare that they need,” she explains.
According to Bazile, the goal of the SHP is to have their
patients be able to transition into permanent housing
and, since housing and health go hand-in-hand, LifeLong
Medical works not only in a medical capacity but
also through outreach efforts to create the most effect
outcomes. “With our healthcare providers in the housing
units, we work to build a bridge and connect with the
patients to meet them where they are,” she says. “We are
providing case management and other service for them
as well as helping them with clinical needs.” Servicing
nearly 600 individuals throughout Oakland and Berkeley,
the SHP has been a rather successful program with close
to 95% of participants retaining housing and most of
them are receiving medical care as well.
In an effort to keep an ongoing pipeline of individuals
passionate about working in public health, LifeLong
Medical Care has been a long-time participant in
AmeriCorps. Through the 10-month-long AmeriCorps
Health Fellows Program, “participants help with a lot
of our innovative program outreach supporting our
mission,” explains Bazile. “So it’s an opportunity for
individuals interested in healthcare to serve and to
learn about primary care.” Because the competitive
grant funding provided by the program does not allow
LifeLong Medical Care to replace an employee with
an AmeriCorps member, program participants have
become an integral component in the organization’s
creative new programs for improved patient care. “It
was an AmeriCorps member that started our pharmacy
program which has become an interregnal part of our
drug assistance program,” says Bazile. “This year we are
working with program members on focusing on how to
help patients with transportation.”
LifeLong Medical Care strives to foster the same
environment of partnership and collaboration with their
patients as they do with the counties and other medical
facilities. Through the Patient Voice Collaborative,
championed by Bazile nearly 10 years ago, patients and
executive level staff are able to come together through
feedback and the exchange of ideas. “It’s a group of
patients, usually on from each of our locations, who
meet every month to talk about their experience with