Editor’s note: This is the fourth and final story in a series about the Sandpoint Community Resource Center, its people and programs. This story details SCRC’s Service Provider Information Network, which connects the service providers to better serve those in need throughout the community.

By MARY MALONE

Staff writer

SANDPOINT — The mission of the Sandpoint Community Resource Center is to bridge the gap between those in need and those who serve. Its relationships with service providers and individuals throughout North Idaho allow the organization to do just that.

“It’s really important that these relationships are firm, and we have the best information in our system,” said Gwen Victorson, SCRC productivity coordinator. “And what’s even better than information and data, is having the personal relationships with people in the community.”

To develop those relationships, as well as come up with effective solutions to local issues, SCRC incorporated the Service Provider Information Network in 2014.

“The SPIN program is an important part of our community collaboration,” said SCRC executive director Linnis Jellinek, adding that it helps the resource center make relevant referrals to clients who come to them with needs such as food, housing, healthcare and a number of other services.

In just the past five years, the nonprofit resource center has helped 1,400 families locate resources in Bonner and Boundary counties. While the organization doesn’t directly provide funds or other resources, the group uses its network of service providers to get people the help they need.

While SPIN helps cultivate those relationships, it is also about taking action, said Becca Orchard, vice president of the SCRC executive board. This year’s quarterly meetings focus on the results of a 2018 community health assessment by Panhandle Health District. The top four priorities that came from that assessment, Orchard said, were emergency housing, substance abuse, mental illness and access to healthcare.

The first quarterly SPIN meeting of 2019 took on the topic of healthcare, led by a panel of experts from Panhandle Health District, Bonner General Health, Kaniksu Health Services, Bonner Partners in Care and Community Cancer Services. More than 30 SPIN members attended and were challenged with a number of “all too common” scenarios and asked to assess how prepared they are to meet the needs presented. Some people had no idea how to handle the situation and some had the wrong idea of what to do, Orchard said.

“I don’t know what’s worse, not having anything to say or giving people the wrong information,” Orchard said. “So that is what we hope to be, is kind of the cure for that. We make it our business to really try and keep up — we are not perfect, but we keep up with all of the changes that are going on, and there are many.”

The SPIN group didn’t simply talk about healthcare, however. They came up with three action items, assigned members to those action items, and set dates for reporting progress. Separated into three smaller groups after the panel discussion, the SPIN members identified three obstacles when it comes to access to healthcare — cost, transportation and awareness. For cost, members were assigned to create a universal client intake form to support the need for a community voucher program. For transportation, members agreed to query the current transportation providers and gather as much information as possible. To improve awareness, the group is working on an outreach campaign to the rural, outlying areas where access there is little or no awareness of services available and how to access them.

“What we are trying to do is get away from simply talking about the issues,” Orchard said. “That is the easy part, identifying the problems. The not so easy part is trying to have some kind of impact on it.”

Victorson said the personal connection and the SPIN quarterly meetings also provide a networking and training opportunity for the volunteer resource specialists at SCRC to meet and learn about the service providers in the area.

“Becca has mentioned in the past when she talks about SPIN that we impact the greatest good when we work as a team or a unit, versus all of us out there on our own, and we obviously can’t do our job without service providers,” Victorson said. “It’s essential to our functioning and the resource center down there is the heartbeat of what we do.”

While SCRC facilitates the meetings, Orchard said, it is the community that owns it and is committed to making these things happen.

“We are just providing the inspiration to meet and gather and connect and do,” she said. “But we really believe it’s about all of us, it’s not about SCRC.”

This month’s featured provider with a spotlight in the SPIN newsletter is Kaniksu Health Services — a federally qualified community health center with a mission of providing comprehensive and affordable medical, pediatric, dental, behavioral health and veteran care. There are five clinics in Bonner and Boundary counties, including Priest River, Bonners Ferry, Ponderay, Sandpoint Pediatrics and the Sandpoint VA clinic.

Olivia Luther, director of community relations for Kaniksu, was one of the panelists for the January SPIN on healthcare.

“It is always an honor to be included in those and raise awareness about the resources that do exist in the community,” Luther said, adding that there are “so many” resources out there for people to tap into. “And it’s not just making community members aware of what resources are out there, but for us service providers to know who we can refer to as well … When there is someone in our office who is in need, being able to recognize where we can send them is a huge benefit to us.”

The SPIN sessions do both, she said, because there are community members who attend that are not service providers, but there are also several service providers who attend.

Ellen Weissman, executive director of the Sandpoint Area Seniors, Inc., had similar sentiments about SCRC and the SPIN program in that, while SCRC sometimes refers people to SASi, she also sends people to the resource center.

“Sometimes we get a situation where we are not able to help somebody, so we will send them to the resource center, and they are able to then connect with whatever agency is better able to help them,” Weissman said. “We have collaborated on a few situations, also.”

Just last year, she said, they teamed up to help a homeless veteran get into an apartment.

Weissman, who has been regularly involved with the resource center and SPIN for several years, said the quarterly meetings are a great way to network with other organizations and tackle topics that are important to the community.

The next SPIN meeting in April will tackle the topic of mental illness, and Orchard said they want it to be “very inclusive.”

“We want to bring in all people who have anything to say or do with mental health in our community, but we are also happy to see the community, just people who are interested in learning more about how we are serving the mentally ill our community — and there are some real struggles,” Orchard said.

Those who are signed up for the SCRC newsletter receive an invitation to the SPIN meetings, though anyone who is interested is welcome to attend and are encouraged to contact the resource center at scrc@sandpointcommunityresource.com or call 208-920-1840. Reservations for those who plan to attend the SPIN meetings are encouraged as well, though not required. The meeting will be held from 8-10 a.m., April 30 in the Sandpoint branch of the East Bonner County Library District.

To sign up for the newsletter, visit sandpointcommunityresource.com/spin. While SCRC coordinates the newsletter, the content comes from everyone in the community and includes notices of events and activities in the community among other items.

“The idea is to have a central place where service-providing folks can share information, can get information, can provide information to not only the community itself, but the broader community because our newsletter gets posted on the website, as do the summaries of the quarterly sessions,” Orchard said.

Anyone in need is, of course, encouraged to contact the resource center as well. The resource specialists not only have access to public service providers, but private individuals and businesses who are willing to help, such as plummers, electricians and mechanics among others.

“There are really special angel people in this Sandpoint community, who you may not find their name when you go search online, but we have access to this list of people who if someone is really in an emergency, you call us,” Victorson said, adding that all information is kept confidential. “If there are any service providers who are not connected to us right now and want to become those private, secret people, we would love to increase that resource list. We don’t just use it for everybody.”

Information: sandpointcommunityresource.com

Mary Malone can be reached by email at mmalone@bonnercountdailybee.com and follow her on Twitter @MaryDailyBee.