FOR: CITY OF SAN FRANCISCO, PROJECT HOMELESS CONNECT
Newswise — (San Francisco, CA February 15, 2012) – No one knows how many homeless people died on the streets of San Francisco last year. The numbers range from the Department of Public Health’s tally of 28 to an estimate of more than 100 from groups who work with the homeless. What is known is that even one death is too many. That’s why the services offered by Project Homeless Connect can mean the difference between life and death for some people.
“Life on the street is always tough, but in the rain and the cold of winter it is particularly so,” says Kara Zordel, Director of Project Homeless Connect. “At times like this the work that we do can literally save someone’s life. Getting them off the street, into a shelter or even an apartment of their own means they no longer risk freezing to death and can be the start of them turning their life around.”
Project Homeless Connect has been around for more than seven years, yet a weak economy and a growing number of people losing their jobs and their homes, mean the needs for its services continue to grow. Newly elected Mayor Ed Lee says homelessness has been and will continue to be a priority for City Hall.
“This is a City with a big heart,” says Zordel. “We are not going to turn our back on the most vulnerable members of our community. By providing people with a one-stop shopping location to get help in finding a home, medical treatment, even just a voice mail box, we are showing them that people do care about them, that their life has value, and that help is there if they need it.”
For the fifth year in a row this event will be sponsored by California Pacific Medical Center, which is bringing approximately 100 volunteers including doctors, nurses and support staff. “Every day we care for the homeless who come to our Emergency Department, we see the impact that living on the street has on their body and their health,” says Warren Browner, MD, MPH, CEO of CPMC. “But we want to do more than that. We want to reach out to people before they end up in the Emergency Department, to offer the kind of support and care that means they’ll stay well and avoid the need for more intensive medical intervention. Project Homeless Connect offers us a wonderful venue to do just that.” Project Homeless Connect is at the Bill Graham Civic Auditorium, 99 Grove Street in San Francisco, on Wednesday, February 15th from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.
The program, which began in San Francisco, has become the model for more than 220 similar programs in other cities around the U.S. as well as Canada and Australia.
For more information contact Kevin McCormack or go to www.projecthomelessconnect.com
About Project Homeless ConnectProject Homeless Connect makes a real difference in the lives of the City’s homeless by bringing together almost 250 non-profit agencies, private businesses and volunteers to assist San Franciscans in need. Since the program’s inception in October 2004 as a joint effort of San Francisco’s health care, housing and human service systems, Project Homeless Connect has been supported by tens of thousands of volunteers, individuals and companies giving their time, cash, clothing, food and essential services. To date, this program has provided services to thousands of the City’s most economically disadvantaged men, women and children with basic human needs and housing. Project Homeless Connect is a key component of Mayor Newsom’s 10-year plan to abolish homelessness in San Francisco. This unprecedented approach to helping the homeless has been adopted as a national model in more than 220 jurisdictions in the U.S and has also been implemented in Canada and Australia.
California Pacific Medical Center. Hands-on Healing.At San Francisco’s California Pacific Medical Center we deliver personal, hands-on care to every single patient, every single day. As one of California’s largest private, community-based, not-for-profit, teaching medical centers, we research the most up-to-date treatments, hire the most qualified individuals, and practice the most modern, innovative medicine available. We deliver the highest quality expert care, with kindness and compassion, in acute, post-acute and outpatient services, as well as preventive and complementary medicine. We also provide disease counseling, family support and wellness treatments. Throughout the entire organization, every member of the CPMC team is committed to giving our patients the individual, hands-on attention they deserve. Every hand plays a part, and every hand has the power to change a life. www.cpmc.org
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