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Health director details 27 temporary "hummingbird" beds at ZSFG, cites federal policy shifts and public-charge litigation
Summary
San Franciscos health director reported converting 27 unoccupied boarding-care beds at Zuckerberg San Francisco General into temporary "hummingbird" beds for people living on the street (no current residents displaced), and said the city is withdrawing from Title X and joined a legal challenge to the revised public-charge rule.
Doctor Colfax, Director of Health, delivered the departments report and highlighted several operational and policy items. He said Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital is converting 27 previously unoccupied boarding-care beds into temporary "hummingbird" beds to provide immediate placements for people living on the street; the department emphasized that no current residents will lose housing as a result and that the beds could revert to long-term care in mid-2021.
"No one is losing housing," Doctor Colfax said, describing the change as an interim response to urgent needs and saying the department is placing the long-term-care license into suspense so the beds can be returned when staffing permits. Roland Pickens, director of the San Francisco Health Network, clarified that 14 ARF beds remain occupied and that other vacancies had been held because of corrective-action plans and safety issues.
On federal policy, Doctor Colfax said recent Title X changes prohibit recipients from referring patients for comprehensive reproductive health services, including abortion, and that the city (and health department) withdrew from the Title X program. He said the department joined the City Attorney in seeking a preliminary injunction challenging the revised public-charge rule on the grounds that it could chill use of benefits by eligible people and their families.
Colfax also noted program and personnel items: Janae Johnson (department staff) was recognized for leadership on trauma-informed care; the department is working with faith-based partners in Bayview Hunters Point on food security and meal service support at Mother Browns dining room; and roughly 40 NERT volunteers were trained with state and city emergency partners on point-of-care dispensing for mass public-health emergencies.
Commissioners asked follow-up questions about the psych units (ARF versus RCFE), why some ARF beds had been vacant, and how decisions on reverting beds will be made. Pickens and other staff said vacancies resulted from corrective-action plans and safety deficiencies, and that decisions about returning beds will be made in coordination with city partners and operational needs.
The department said it will continue to study longer-term boarding-care models and report back to the commission with options.
