Pilot program to help the homeless
Goal is to educate those in need about available services
There are services available to the local homeless population that many don’t know exist. The Marysville Police Department and Sutteryuba Behavioral Health are working together on a pilot program to help educate those in need about what’s available.
Marysville Police Chief Chris Sachs and John Floe, program manager of Community Services for Sutter-yuba Behavioral Health, work together on the Sutter-yuba Homeless Consortium Continuum of Care board. After one particular conversation following a board meeting, the two concluded that more education and outreach is needed around the community.
“What we found is that when you have a peer mentor working with the homeless, it tends to be a better outcome in terms of engagement and having individuals engage in available services,” Floe said. “It’s all about continuous engagement with the homeless community, which helps move them to be motivated to do something different.”
Sachs said his department has seen a lot more cases of mental health issues in the field recently. He saw the partnership with behavioral health as a no-brainer.
“We do this on a daily basis with patrol officers. However, we felt that partnering on this position and having a civilian not in uniform would allow us more flexibility to have someone out there more frequently providing outreach and letting people know about the services that are provided,” Sachs said.
Seemong Yang, a peer mentor with Sutter-yuba Behavioral Health, has been working as the homeless outreach coordinator for the past three weeks. He said he dedicates 31 hours a week, Monday through Thursday, interacting with the homeless population around Marysville.
“Working with the Marysville Police Department has been helpful because they pretty much know where the hot spots are, where the homeless populations hang out,” Yang said. “Normally, I do ride-alongs with them Seemong Yang, a peer mentor with Sutter-yuba Behavioral Health, stands inside the Life Building Center in Marysville on Wednesday. Yang has spent the last three weeks working alongside the Marysville Police Department as a homeless outreach coordinator.
between 9 a.m. and 1 p.m. Then from about 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. I work with some of the homeless that come through our mental health facilities.”
Overall, Yang said, people he has talked with have been receptive to what he is trying to accomplish.
“I have seen people I met out in the field come in and get services. When I find someone in the field that has not been to our coordinated-entry facility, I give them a card and have them come by so that we can put them into our system and start providing the services they need,” Yang said.
The ultimate goal of the pilot program is to get everyone housed and off the street, he said.
“Many of these people have behavior and mental health issues that causes them to be out there in the first place. So, my goal is to help provide them with the services they need most and to help the community of Marysville,” Yang said.
It’s a pilot program, so those involved aren’t sure what will come of it. Still, Sachs said trying to better the lives of those most in need of assistance is worth the effort.
For more information about available services, visit the Life Building Center – 131 F St., Marysville – or call 749-6811. For services in Sutter County, visit Hands of Hope – 909 Spiva Ave., Yuba City – or call 755-3491.
An injured bat found in a Larkin Boulevard home in Live Oak was found to be rabid, the Sutter County Animal Services Authority said in a press release.
The bat was found by a resident Aug. 2 and collected by the authority for rabies testing through the Sutter County Health Department.
The two adults and three children living in the home will undergo preventative post-exposure prophylaxis treatment, the release said. Three indoor dogs will undergo a strict 30-day quarantine.
Residents are asked to call the Sutter Animal Services Authority at 530-8227375 immediately if there is a live or dead bat inside or outside your home. Never touch bats, especially if appearing sick or dead. Keep your pets’ rabies vaccinations up-to-date.
The Center for Disease and Control states on its website “Avoid contact with wild animals. Put screens on all windows and use chimney caps. Place draft-guards beneath doors to ensure that all doors to the outside close tightly. Do not keep doors or unscreened windows open, especially if people are sleeping. Evacuate any room with a live bat and close the door.”