Health System Brochure January 2021

 The County of Santa Clara Health System continues to lead, strengthen, serve, and transform. As the largest public health system in Northern California, we continue to advance the health and well-being of the communities we serve.

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We work every day to make sure the largest public healthcare delivery system in Northern California remains effective, equitable, and essential. Our work is grounded in the core values of compassion, honesty, respect, learning, accountability, and excellence.

​ ​We take seriously our role as the health safety net for the nearly 2 million residents of Santa Clara County. We continue to evolve to best serve our patients, clients, employees, partners, and community. As we continue to transform and improve, we are making a difference in the health and well-being of all the people we serve.

To our patients, clients, partners, supporters, volunteers, staff, and friends who make our work possible – thank you! You are our champions, and we look forward to continuing our work to reach our vision of Better Health for All.​

 

The following pages highlight our departments, programs, efforts, and accomplishments.
 

For more information about activities related to the response to the pandemic, please see our 2020 COVID-19 Report.
Additional Health System activities are also featured in the Quarterly Report​.​
 

​​The Behavioral Health Services Department provides an integrated system of care between mental health, substance use, and physical health services to achieve the best outcomes for Santa Clara County residents.

The Children, Youth and Families (CYF) division of the Behavioral Health Services Department serves children, adolescents, young adults, and their families who are experiencing social-emotional and behavioral health issues. In addition to outpatient care and programs specific to the unique needs of children and their families, CYF offers programs and services at schools, in homes, and at community settings to ensure client needs are met and easily accessible.

The Adult and Older Adult division offers free or low-cost services to people with mental health and/or substance use issues. These services are provided to those who have Medi-Cal, Medicare, or no insurance, and are residents of Santa Clara County.  Substance use, housing, and criminal justice needs of clients are addressed through multiple programs with different levels of care as a comprehensive continuum of care to to provide coordinated care including appropriate connections to support recovery.

The Behavioral Health Services Department recognizes that there are multiple opportunities and paths to address behavioral health concerns. The Continuum of Care promotes the following:

• Creating environments and conditions that support behavioral health and the ability of individuals to withstand challenges.
• Delivering prevention interventions intended to prevent or reduce the risk of developing a behavioral health problem.
• Providing treatment services to individuals diagnosed with a substance use or behavioral health issues.
• Supporting individuals’ abilities to live productive lives in the community. 

When an individual faces an emotional or mental health crisis, several services are available.

The Behavioral Health Services Department (BHSD) supports people from different cultures, backgrounds, those who speak other languages, and who are hearing impaired. There are a variety of ethnic specific and LGBTQ-focused programs.  Culturally competent peers and clinicians with lived experience, similar backgrounds, and/or language capabilities are hired to help overcome the stigma and barriers that have traditionally prevented underserved communities from accessing services.

An expansion of crisis response in the community is in development with the addition of the Psychiatric Emergency Response Team (PERT). PERT, along with Mobile Crisis Response Team (MCRT), provide different levels of crisis response in the community. The Community Mobile Response (CMR) program offers a lower level of care to residents of the county.

 

The Behavioral Health Services Department also continues to adapt to the needs resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic through the provision of telehealth services, trainings and resources provided to contract providers, and more. Regular collaboration with other County departments helps to leverage resources and maximize services to develop a no wrong door approach for clients requiring care across multiple systems. 

The Public Health Department protects and improves the health of communities through education, promotion of healthy lifestyles, disease and injury prevention, and promotion of sound health policy.

In 2020, the Public Health Department (PHD) lead the County’s COVID-19 response, including leading six other Bay Area counties to declare Shelter in Place for our region. The Public Health Department Laboratory was one of the first public health labs to test for the COVID-19 virus outside of the CDC. Also, an aggressive expansion of contact tracing has been conducted by the department. Over 1,000 staff from the County of Santa Clara, community partner organizations and volunteers, were trained to support this effort. In addition, PHD developed its own training materials and resources. These resources were shared with other public health departments and the State of California recognized Santa Clara County as a best practice for developing high-quality resources and materials.

As the pandemic continued, PHD sustained critical disease prevention and control efforts including tuberculosis, Hepatitis B, and Sexually Transmitted Diseases(STD)/HIV.

In addition, PHD conducted community flu vaccination events. The department has also continued to provide direct services through Women, Infants & Children (WIC), California Children's Services (CCS), STD/HIV testing and support, and other prevention and

education programs.

PHD established the Better Health Pharmacy in 2016, the first and only surplus drug pharmacy in California. The Better Health Pharmacy used donated medications – that are unused, unopened and unexpired from medical providers – to offer free prescriptions to community members.

The Healthy Cities initiative empowers communities to promote and protect community health. The initiative uses its Open Data Portal and evidence-based policies and strategies to prevent chronic disease and injury.

 

Santa Clara Valley Medical Center Hospitals and Clinics provides high quality, compassionate, and accessible healthcare for all persons in Santa Clara County regardless of their social-economic status and ability to pay. The largest public health care delivery system in Northern California serves a diverse population of over 2 million Santa Clara County residents and others in the Bay Area and beyond.