Over 75% of Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital's patients are uninsured or Medi-Cal beneficiaries.
With socio-economic and language barriers in place, these patients often experience inadequate access to vital resources, contributing significantly to higher rates of life-threatening conditions like strokes and heart attacks.
Since the initiation of the program in 2013 at ZSFG, the Health Advocates program has provided training to more than 250 volunteers and offered support to over 7,300 high-need families, providing assistance with their social needs during hospital visits and beyond.
What we do
The Health Advocates are student and community volunteers who conduct standardized social and legal needs screening with families seen in our clinics.
Where we can be found
HA operates within a hybrid model. Program staff are available remotely, Mondays through Fridays, and in person at the ZSFG Children’s Health Clinic, Women’s Health Center, and in the Family Health Center.
Who we work with
Operating within the Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital (ZSFG), HA volunteers work with patients, families, healthcare providers, and peers. Volunteers concentrate on central social determinants of health, mitigating the intertwined forces of inequality, limited resource access, cultural differences, and language barriers that slow optimal patient outcomes. Critical aspects involve conducting incisive assessments to understand individual patient needs, enabling access to suitable social and economic resources, overcoming linguistic barriers, a comprehensive data collection and reporting system for instructive analytics, and training opportunities for volunteers preparing for health professions.
Objectives
The project aims to address systemic health disparities within vulnerable communities, predominantly within San Francisco's poorer neighborhoods. Major aspects contributing to these disparities include lack of access to healthcare, economic scarcity, inadequate understanding of personal health issues, and language barriers. According to Bay Area Regional Health Inequities Initiative's (BARHII) Health Inequities Report, the difference in life expectancy can be as striking as 10 years when comparing the wealthiest neighborhoods to the poorest within San Francisco.