Since 2004 UCSF Medical Center and San Francisco General Hospital Medical Center have operated a mobile eye service, the Eye Van, which provides screening services for underserved patients at eight Department of Public Health Clinics. A few years ago the Eye Van began making stops at St. Anthony’s, and recently those stops became regular, monthly occurrences. SAMC Diabetes Care Coordinator Jaime Martinez expressed what a benefit this is to our patients, “This is a great service because our patients can get their screening done here, rather than wait a long time to get an appointment at General.” Our patients, like so many of the most vulnerable residents of San Francisco suffer disproportionately from chronic diseases such as diabetes and hypertension. With limited access to primary care, low-income, underserved patients often miss out on these preventive, vision-saving screens.

Efficient, dynamic partnerships like these help us provide our patients with meaningful preventive services which ensure a better quality of life for all.

Nurse Jackie Mojigo receives a spirometry certificate from George Su of UCSF

The cost of health care has become a daily feature in the news. Not the least component of that story is the role played by chronic disease in the American health care landscape. The bad news is that chronic disease is pervasive and expensive; the good news is that it is often preventable and almost always manageable. However, prevention and management require that we take the long view, that we take steps to maintain health and intervene when our bodies show the first signs of getting out of whack.

For people living in poverty, prevention is often out of reach, an unaffordable luxury. The unfortunate result of this is the use of ERs as the sole source of healthcare. In the Tenderloin, unmanaged chronic diseases lead to some of the highest rates in the city for ambulatory hospitalizations and ER visits. This is why St. Anthony Medical Clinic has focused in on chronic disease prevention and management. This is where we can make a significant and sustainable impact on the health of San Francisco’s most vulnerable populations.

In 2009, St. Anthony Medical Clinic started the Asthma & COPD Clinic which serves the Tenderloin through collaboration with the UCSF School of Pharmacy.  Through this partnership the Clinic is able to ensure that all asthmatics and patients with COPD can receive spirometry testing at least once a year. As a test of pulmonary function, spirometry is an important tool in the diagnosis and management of asthma and COPD; it can be used not only to diagnose the causes of lung disease, but also to assess medication effectiveness. The latter is essential to proper medication adjustments, which plays a key role in supporting the patient’s quality of life and keeping her out of the ER.

St. Anthony Medical Clinic staff are proud not only to be able to offer spirometry as an essential tool in our chronic care management services, but to have received top marks in quality measures through the Spirometry 360 training program. In a course where 60% accuracy is passing, a Clinic-wide average accuracy score of 93% is very impressive indeed.  Clinic staff at St. Anthony’s strive every day to provide quality care and health education to our patients; the successful implementation of the spirometry program represents another step towards accessible preventive care for Tenderloin residents.

You have heard of our boundless hope here at St. Anthony’s. This hope is real—so real that we’ve moved our original Dining Room to an interim location, and we’re preparing to tear down the old building to make way for a new one. It’s all about hope. Many generous donors have already stepped up and supported this $22 million effort, yet we still have about $4.5 million to raise.

We are now turning to our regular donors and the general public to finish off this campaign. We need you to join us now and be part of the miracle–one that that began with Fr. Alfred Boeddeker in 1950. Today, we face the challenge of keeping that miracle alive by building a new St. Anthony’s for the next 60 years. Construction starts this summer, so there’s no putting things off. If you support our work with a regular gift to St. Anthony’s, please consider making an additional gift for this once-in-a-lifetime project.

The Giants and famed pitcher Barry Zito have stepped up to the plate to help build the new St. Anthony’s Dining Room. In addition to two generous gifts, the Giants will feature St. Anthony’s in a Home Plate Ceremony at AT&T park.  Larry Baer, President and Chief Executive Officer of the Giants, kicked off the public phase of our campaign by proclaiming that “Jones and Golden Gate is the most important intersection in the city.”

Barry Zito will also reach out to San Franciscans via radio asking for help to make the new Dining Room possible. As we enter the home stretch of our campaign, we’re proud to have the 2010 World Series champions at bat for us.  Join St. Anthony’s and the Giants in striking out hunger.

Click HERE to donate.

St. Anthony’s Dining Room opened its doors Saturday, February 25th to bid farewell to our original building. Guests, staff, volunteers and friends helped us paint the walls with memories, play music, dance, write notes for our time capsule, and even do a little minor demolition to take a small piece of the Dining Room home.

A heartfelt thanks to everyone who joined us to leave their imprint on a space that has served over 38 million meals and changed countless lives.  Click HERE to view photos from this special day.

Moving is always a challenge.  Throw in 62 years in one place, 3,000 guests, 10,000 volunteers, and steam kettles from a World War II naval ship and you’ve got a move that will make history.

Thanks to tireless efforts from our community, we rolled up our sleeves and made it happen.  While we’ve got a little less elbow room in our building at 150 Golden Gate Avenue, we’re thrilled by the prospect of seeing our new Dining Room begin to take shape.  After all, we know from experience that miracles are possible and the best things are worth the wait.

Arcadis employee, and regular St. Anthony volunteer, Ron Goloubow saw a need at St. Anthony’s for volunteers and organized a group of colleagues from Arcadis to come and help out this past Sunday.  They were a wonderful group of volunteers who inspired us, not only  with their response to the needs of our community, but also their ability to connect with our guests and clients.  We hope to see you again!

Arcadis is an international company that provides consultancy, design, engineering and management services in the fields of Infrastructure, Water, Environment and Buildings.