P&P August 2015

Mark Krug is a Special Projects manager at Catholic Charities of the Diocese of Santa Rosa. Reference Notes 1. Salit, S.A., Kuhn, E.M., Hartz, A.J., Vu, J.M., and Mosso, A.L. (1998.) Hospitalization costs associated with homelessness in New York City. New England Journal of Medicine, 338(24): 1734–40. 2. National Health Care for the Homeless Council, Medicaid Reimbursement for Medical Respite Services Policy Analysis (September 2011) . http://www. nhchc.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/ Sept2011.pdf, Accessed March 2015. 3. Health Care for the Homeless Clinician’s

are frequently also clients of county services, particularly DHS’ Behavioral Health Division, these care coordina- tion services provide an opportunity to reduce downstream costs for DHS and for Sonoma County government overall, including costs in public safety, criminal justice, and health and human services. Because of this, DHS has contrib- uted $60,000 annually to Nightingale for the last three years. These funds provide increased operational capacity within the program. The goal of DHS in supporting the Nightingale Program is continued improvement in appropriate use of the county’s limited health care resources, and direct support for homeless adults recuper- ating from illness and injury who are in need of assistance to obtain shelter, income, benefits, and ultimately, long- term housing.

the Health Center to provide space and facility support and for Charities to provide staffing and services to Nightingale clients who benefit from temporarily residing in the community health center. While the main focus of Nightingale is client rest and recupera- tion from illness or injury, the clients are offered the full array of Charities’ homelessness and housing services with an explicit goal of ending the client’s homelessness. Charities staff provides case management and care coordination services to achieve this goal and to assist in the client’s overall wellness. Through DHS’ Health Action Committee for Healthcare Improvement, the department has an interest in partnering with these local hospitals to support programs that reduce hospital readmissions. Further, since the Nightingale clients WhyYou Should Attend the 2015 NSDTA Professional Development Conference This year’s conference of the National Staff Development and Training Association (NSDTA) fully embraces its theme, “Ascent to Excellence,” by allowing you to gain altitude to achieve peak performance by learning, connecting, and changing. Investing time at NSDTA will help you grow personally and enhance your programs through the exchange of ideas, resources, and approaches. First timers as well as seasoned alumni will gain the knowledge and skills they can put to immediate use, not only to improve their agencies, but to trans- form them. Since 1983, NSDTA has been advancing the field of human service training, professional development, and, more broadly, organizational effectiveness. The 2015 conference, to be held October 4–7 in Denver,

Network, Healing Hands, Volume 11, No. 2 (April 2007). Medical Respite Care: An Integral Part of Homeless Care Continuum. http://www.nhchc. org/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/ HealingHandsApril20071.pdf, Accessed March 2015. association news

business, to spark your imagination, and connect you to new, and perhaps unknown, resources. Disseminating new practices occurs through peer networking and attending innovative workshops at the NSDTA conference. While the bulk of your time is spent at workshops, unstructured time during the conference provides invaluable opportunities for you to continue conversations in more relaxed social settings. At the 2014 conference in Louisville, Ky., participants said they especially valued the opportunity to network, share resources, and employ tech- nology differently. Sheila Blanton from Georgia said, “NSDTA gives me energy to try new ideas to improve my performance and provides incredible networking with other professionals.” To find out more about this year’s conference, visit http://www.nsdtacon- ference.com/#!home/c24vq. Together, we will ascend to excellence!

will showcase best practices from across the United States and provide opportunities for networking among organizational development, training, staff development, training evaluation professionals, and agency leaders at all levels of their organizations. Attending the conference will inspire you—to try new ways of doing

August 2015   Policy&Practice 31