Many people are left behind in our community’s effort to provide needed health care and social services to residents of Alachua County and the surrounding areas.

But the left hand doesn’t always know what the right hand is doing, and that’s where the Alachua County Safety Net Collaborative (SNC) comes into play.

“Our purpose is to work across community silos to work to build relationships with each other around medical care, dental care, social services, housing, transportation, and other social determinants of health,” said Laura Guyer, SNC moderator, recently retired associate professor at UF’s College of Medicine and now executive director of Partners4Health, LLC. 

More than 81 programs and organizations in the non-profit, academic and governmental world whose reason for being is to help make things better for those left out of the loop are part of the SNC.

“It’s important because it provides a space and opportunity for organizations that do similar work to connect their information and think about how we can solve community problems together,” said Robert Baez, operations director at UF HealthStreet and a member of the Collaborative.

These days, the SNC meets monthly in a big conference room in UF HealthStreet, where the tables are set up to approximate a round table to give everyone present equal stature.

SNC, founded in 2013, grew out of various community health initiatives fostered by concerns about health inequities and desires for public health reforms, including the Alachua County Health Department’s first Community Health Improvement Plan (CHIP).

By design, SNC has no formal leadership structure and meets as a community of equals.

“We see ourselves as a group of peers. We come from different organizations. Some have a lot of funds, some don’t. But in this room, we are together as peers,” Guyer said.

So, what is meant by a safety net?  On its home page, SNC provides the Oxford Dictionary definition as “a safeguard against possible hardships or adversity” and the National Academy of Medicine description of healthcare safety net providers as professionals who serve the “uninsured, Medicaid, and other patients with unmet socio-economic needs.”

But Guyer takes it further.

“I’ve been to the circus. I’ve seen a safety net. What does the safety net do? It’s there for people who fall because we don’t want them to be badly injured,” she said. “The safety net for social services and health care does the same thing. It helps people who fall between the cracks in our systems. “

SNC’s monthly meetings are for networking and learning and kick off with a presentation from a member organization. At the July session, Alachua County Fire Rescue’s Capt. Jodie Benware and licensed social worker Bill Nice of the Mobile Integrated Healthcare Team (MIH) talked about their programs and services.

To loosen people up, next on the agenda was a getting-to-know-you session, where attendees went around the room to chat up others and learn about another organization’s programs.  It’s surprising sometimes to find out about what you didn’t know.

For example, the Homeless Education program within the Alachua County Public School (ACPS) system is no secret, yet ACPS program coordinator Pamela Worsham said too many people are unaware of the problem. Worsham said at last count, there were more than 1,000 unhoused students in the county.

Baez said these discoveries are one of the things he likes most about participating in the SNC.

“Today I learned about various available resources,” he said. “So many things are available that we just don’t know about, and activities to learn about different resources are important.” 

Then those present spent about 30 minutes working in small groups to come up with solutions for specific problems. Four community organizations ( Healthy Start-NCF, Community Health Worker Program, Epilepsy Alliance and the Equal Access Clinic) provided case studies.

“The discussion at my table was extremely enlightening,” Guyer said. “I learned about programs at Elder Options and the Veterans Administration (VA) that I didn’t know about. The team at my table also discovered health-related needs that are currently unmet by organizations.

Another group looked at other issues that someone in the community might face, like receiving an eviction notice or getting treatment for a chronic disease when the person who is ill doesn’t have health insurance.

The SNC’s focus is now on in-person meetings to make more gains in forging connections to overcome barriers put up by conditions caused by a lack of housing, access to food, and other social determinants of health.

“It connects you with other resources to utilize in your community and whatever business or nonprofit you are in. It’s non-judgmental,” said Janeice Smith of THRIVE Newberry.  

Adriana Menendez of the Rural Women’s Health Project said being part of the SNC helps them better serve their community. 

“Our people need other resources beyond what we can provide,” she said. “So, we need to know other programs so we can refer our people to them.”