[Noozhawk’s note: Third in a series sponsored by the Hutton Parker Foundation. Click here for the first article, and click here for the second.]
Santa Barbara Neighborhood Clinics is forging a new direction with a combined effort to educate the larger community, provide a strategic path forward for health care and recognize local health-care heroes — all while providing whole-patient care to nearly 22,000 people a year.
Through its Good Neighbors Ambassador Program, Strategic Advisory Council, SBNC Think Tank and Healthcare Heroes, the venerable nonprofit organization is harnessing the power of South Coast community members for the common good.
“If the whole community doesn’t have access to care, the whole community can’t be healthy,” Dr. Charles “Chuck” Fenzi, SBNC CEO and chief medical officer, told Noozhawk.
Santa Barbara Neighborhood Clinics is a federally qualified health center offering integrated medical, dental and behavioral health services to patients regardless of their ability to pay.
The clinics take major insurance, Medi-Cal and cash patients, and operate on a sliding fee scale. Reimbursement for patient services generates 75 percent of SBNC’s revenue and a federal grant program provides more than $1 million annually, but the clinics must raise the remainder of its budget each year from other sources.
Donors with a heart for the nonprofit health-care clinics that provide primary care, dental care, behavioral therapies and outpatient addiction treatment are invited to enroll in Good Neighbors Ambassadors — a fundraising effort with benefits. Participants are financial supporters who receive access to special events, private guest receptions and educational programs.
“We don’t raise enough revenue through just patient care to fund the cost of delivering care to a large segment of our demographic,” Fenzi explained. “Our lowest level on our sliding scale for self-pay patients is $42, but the cost of care far exceeds that.
“We depend on the largess of the community to help us fund that.”
Good Neighbors Ambassadors not only pledge $1,000 or more per year to SBNC, but are also willing to introduce the clinics in their circle of influence, understand SBNC’s financial reliance on supporters like them, and volunteer in a variety of events such as Healthcare Heroes recognition programs, hosting tours, receptions or luncheons.
“In addition to being good neighbors, kind donors, these are people of high capacity who really want to be involved,” Fenzi said. “We want to have friends of ours remain engaged. Right now, with COVID keeping us socially distant, they’re working on videos promoting what we do, developing the website to make it a more meaningful tool.”
In return, ambassadors are given the keys to an annual update event covering medical issues impacting the community, invitations to all SBNC’s events, special engagements and private guest receptions, recognition as a Good Neighbor in printed materials and on social media, and the opportunity to weigh in on issues of particular interest to donors.
“It’s nice to have someone with boots on the ground able to provide some real-life experience, the reality, no fluff, to say, ‘This is what we’re seeing in our world right now, and this is how we’re dealing with it,’” SBNC development director Maria Long said.
The Good Neighbors Ambassadors program is on the rise.
“Currently dozens on the roll of this brand-new program, but the capacity for supporting the clinics, for taking part, is unlimited,” Fenzi said.
A handful of driven volunteers unwilling to let go after a successful, three-year campaign to raise $20 million remain on board in new capacities, including serving on SBNC’s Strategic Advisory Council.
An even more focused group, the SBNC Think Tank, delves deeply into the operational, financial and long-term potential of health care for a more stable community.
“People on these committees have really recognized the value we bring to the community,” Fenzi said.
And, finally, SBNC was breathing new life into its Healthcare Heroes gala plans when the coronavirus hit. The October event has been put on hiatus due to pandemic concerns, but will make a comeback in some form to recognize people doing outstanding work in health care.
Past honorees have included Ron Werft, president and CEO of Cottage Health; Dr. Steven Hosea for his work with people with AIDS; Penny Jenkins, former president and CEO of the Council on Alcoholism & Drug Abuse; and Direct Relief president and CEO Thomas Tighe.
Click here for more information about the Santa Barbara Neighborhood Clinics, or contact at Long at maria.long@sbclinics.org. Click here to make an online donation.
— Noozhawk contributing writer Jennifer Best can be reached at news@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk, @NoozhawkNews and @NoozhawkBiz. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.