February 9, 2015

SAN DIEGO BUSINESS JOURNAL

COMMENTARY

Editorials, letters, columns and other opinions

Follow Roadmap to End Veteran Homelessness

United Way of
San Diego and city
partners recently
made their first push
into the San Diego
community to inform veterans that
permanent housing
COMMENTARY
solutions will be
available as early as
Kevin Crawford
mid-February. If the
community and San
Diego businesses
band together with
efforts currently underway, 2015 will
be a radical turning
point for the veteran and chronically
COMMENTARY
homeless population, as they are reShannon McCrary
integrated back into
the workforce and society as valuable
contributing citizens.
Provided that efforts are executed
well, the region will have a sustainable
roadmap for future retention efforts.
Theres also an opportunity cost at
stake for the business community,
because helping eradicate homelessness
will allow for more time and energy
to be directed to other quality of life
matters such as improved economic
development.
Its been eight years since President Obama, prior to his election,
challenged the nation at a town hall
meeting in Iowa to have zero tolerance for any veteran sleeping on the
streets, suggesting that this national
tragedy is every persons responsibility
to shoulder. Albeit a long time coming,
its clear that we are now at a pivotal
point in regional and national history
for homeless initiatives.

In 2009, former VA Secretary Eric K.

Shinseki introduced the Zero Homelessness Initiative, with a 2015 hard
stop deadline to ending veteran homelessness. At the 2014 National Conference on Ending Homelessness, held
in Washington D.C., Michelle Obama
made a poignant statement about veteran homelessness being a stain on the
soul of this nation.
Just a month prior, the first lady
created the Mayors Challenge to
engage cities with a commitment to end
veteran homelessness by 2015. Mayor
Kevin Faulconer signed this agreement
and has since joined with President and
CEO Kevin Crawford of United Way of
San Diego, 25 Cities San Diego and the
National Alliance to End Homelessness. 25 Cities San Diego is a national
effort to come alongside 25 communities to accelerate and align with existing
efforts toward ending veteran and
chronic homelessness.
The goal is to place veterans in safe
and stable permanent homes, by prioritizing individual and specific needs
with corresponding services such as
housing vouchers. North County has
already spearheaded efforts towards
Zero chronic and Veteran homeless,
beginning in early January 2015.
Through partnerships with private
landlords, 25 Cities San Diego will use
the Vulnerability Index-Service Prioritization and Decision Assistance Tool
(VI-SPDAT), to target resources to
veterans and the chronically homeless
first, and build a Coordinated Assessment and Housing placement (CAHP)
system to service those with the greatest need. In fact, within the first 100
days of 25 Cities San Diegos initial
launch in downtown in June 2014,
more than 2,200 people were assessed

and housed, securing San Diego as one

of 68 U.S communities to participate in
Zero: 2016, a national campaign to end
veteran and chronic homelessness.
Looking at national numbers, the
U.S Department of Veteran Affairs
2014 Point-in-Time (PIT) count revealed about 50,000 homeless veterans
were without safe and stable housing
on any single given night in January
2014.
The homeless in our region are San
Diegos own. These are our neighbors,
future employees and business partners,
many currently residing on the front
porch of our business establishments.
Turning a blind eye is no longer an
option to this ticking time bomb of our
veteran and chronic homeless
population.
At this years conclusion, in addition
to housing, the hope is to also have
many former veteran and chronically
homeless punching a time clock. More
than ever, theres a call to the business
community to extend their employment
reach to those willing and able to work.
The resulting byproduct will be a stronger economy, greater business development and improved quality of life.
To date, veteran and chronic homelessness initiatives have been partially
successful in other cities such as New
Orleans, Phoenix and Salt Lake City.
San Diego, Americas Finest City, can
do better.
We have the opportunity to serve as a
beacon to the nation at large of the power demonstrated through strong community and business collaboration, further
evidenced by the kindness of those that
live and work in our city and region.
Kevin Crawford is CEO of United
Way of San Diego. Shannon McCrary is
founder of Americas Kindest City.

The Comfort of Home

prepared in our society to be providing

supportive services to people who are
frail, elderly and on the end-of-life care
pathway. When I think about health
care in the future, it really comes down
to health care providers putting more
resources out in the community instead
of people going to the hospital.

Page 63

www.sdbj.com

4909 Murphy Canyon Road, Suite 200

San Diego, CA 92123
858-277-6359 Fax 858-277-6398
Email: sdbj@sdbj.com Website: www.sdbj.com
PRESIDENT & PUBLISHER

Armon Mills amills@sdbj.com 858-277-6795

ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER &
VICE PRESIDENT

Amy Wimer awimer@sdbj.com 858-277-0722

EDITORIAL
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

Nels Jensen njensen@sdbj.com 858-277-6897

EXECUTIVE EDITOR

Reo Carr rcarr@sdbj.com 858-277-1740

Managing Editor

Tarcy Connors tconnors@sdbj.com 858-634-4623

Copy Editor

Steve J. Adamek sadamek@sdbj.com 858-277-6591

Senior Reporter

Mike Allen mallen@sdbj.com 858-277-6971

Reporters

Brad Graves bradg@sdbj.com 858-277-6586

Lou Hirsh lhirsh@sdbj.com 858-277-8904
Brittany Meiling bmeiling@sdbj.com 858-634-4625
Contributing Writers

Stephanie R. Glidden sglidden@sdbj.com

Tom York tyork@sdbj.com
Photographers

Melissa Jacobs mj@sandiegophoto.com

Stephen Whalen peak15@roadrunner.com
RESEARCH
Researcher

Leslie Fulton lfulton@sdbj.com 858-634-4635

ADVERTISING
Sales Manager

Dale Ganzow dganzow@sdbj.com 858-277-4832

Account Executives

Rick Bushree rbushree@sdbj.com 858-277-6692

Korey Castillo koreyc@sdbj.com 858-277-6397
April Gingras agingras@sdbj.com 858-277-6595
Kendahl Stein kstein@sdbj.com 858-277-1516
Classied Account Executive

Hospice:
from page 1

The 6,100-square-foot home houses only

six patients at a time, with the aim of
maintaining a quiet and homelike setting.
A more traditional model is to send a
hospice worker to a patients home for
end-of-life care, but sometimes patients
need more aggressive medical or psychosocial management than family can
provide at home.
The hospice
home allows us the
opportunity to have
the complements of
a health care facility,
with the environment of a very comfortable home, said
Suzi Johnson
Suzi Johnson, vice
president of Sharp HospiceCare.
The home is outfitted with a meditation room, butlers kitchen, and large
dining and living areas big enough to
accommodate visiting family and friends.
BonitaView Home is one of three similar models in San Diego County, along
with LakeView Home in La Mesa and
ParkView Home in Del Cerro.
The homes are built in established
residential neighborhoods, and staffed
with registered nurses, social workers,
bereavement counselors, spiritual care
counselors, a cook and a medical director.

Vanessa Quartuccio vquartuccio@sdbj.com 858-277-6499

The BonitaView Home is one of a

gamut of options for patients in need of
around-the-clock care. Most hospice care is
provided at home with a family member
typically serving as the primary caregiver.
All of our research shows that the
majority of patients want to die at home
surrounded by loved ones, said Judi
Lund Person, a spokesperson for the
National Hospice and Palliative Care
Organization. One of the reasons that
hospice facilities have developed is to
provide a homelike atmosphere that does
not feel like a hospital.
Currently, hospice care is often delivered
at hospitals, nursing homes and assisted
living facilities depending on the intensity
of the patients needs. With an increasing
older population demographic, those
needs will only become more demanding.
According to U.S. Health and Human
Services, there were 39.6 million people
65 years or older in 2009. By 2030, that
number is projected to grow to 72.1 million what many health care experts
call the aging population time bomb.
Not only is the aging population getting larger, but people are living longer
than ever before. This has significantly
increased the demand on hospital resources, Johnson said.
Hospitals have changed a lot over
time because people are living to be
so old, Johnson said. Were not well

Sales Administrator

Kathi McArthur kmcarthur@sdbj.com 858-634-4631

Supplements Editor

Patti Anderson panderson@sdbj.com 858-634-4634

ART & PRODUCTION DEPARTMENT
Director of Art & Production

Michael S. Domine mdomine@sdbj.com 858-634-4628

Cultural Shift
Johnson said America needs a cultural
shift when it comes to the perception of
the life cycle.
The end of our lives should be honored
and treated as respectfully as the beginning
of life, Johnson said, comparing the new
hospice homes to birthing centers. Our
culture has sensitized us to be afraid of dying. We think that if we dont talk about it, it
doesnt exist. Really what were doing in our
hospice home is normalizing for a patient
and family what really, truly is normal.
Sharp HospiceCare raised $3.6 million
to build the BonitaView Home over a
three-year fundraising campaign.
Scott McMillin, chairman of the
board of The Corky McMillin Cos., and
his wife, Susan, led the donation round
with a $250,000 gift to Sharp HospiceCare toward its Homes for Hospice
campaign in 2011.
Johnson said Sharp HospiceCare officials plan to build a new hospice home
in San Diego County every five years, or
as funds become available.

Production Artists

Rich Babiarz rbabiarz@sdbj.com 858-277-6359 x 3117

Suzan Peterson suzanp@sdbj.com 858-277-6359 x 3116
CIRCULATION & EVENTS
Director of Circulation, Marketing & Events

Linda Olander lolander@sdbj.com 858-277-2914

Circulation New Business Development

Russ Havens rhavens@sdbj.com 858-634-4234

Marketing Coordinator

Audrey Marlow amarlow@sdbj.com 858-277-6359 x 3145

Events Specialists

Shannon Taylor staylor@sdbj.com 858-277-6695

Sabina Turlea sturlea@sdbj.com 858-277-6359
ADMINISTRATION
Controller

Mark J. Misiano mmisiano@sdbj.com 858-277-6778