Health Empowerment & Access Team (HEAT)

Improving health outcomes by testing, treating and educating individuals along the care continuum.

clients are homeless or transitionally housed

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Reducing harms with respect for the rights of people who use drugs

The Health Empowerment & Access Team is dedicated to empowering individuals and improving health outcomes for people with substance use and/or mental health concerns, many of whom are homeless or marginally housed.

We provide comprehensive services, including health access, linkage to primary care, detox and treatment services, and Medications for low threshold/low barrier outpatient treatment Opioid Use Disorder (MOUD).

We also offer overdose prevention, access to syringes, Narcan, and clean use supplies, linkage to HIV/HCV treatment, harm reduction education, one-on-one and group coaching, support, and HIV, STI, and HCV testing with linkage to care.

Additionally, we provide access to substance use groups, including 12-step programs, and in the fall of 2025, we will introduce contingency management.

By integrating community outreach, case management, and partnerships with medical teams and in-house Glide programs, we ensure holistic support and linkage to essential health and social services, fostering safer use, recovery, and reducing overdose risks.

As part of HEAT, we employ various evidence-based public health interventions and practices designed to reduce the harms associated with drug use. Our core objectives include the containment of HIV and the cure of HCV, understanding that the same racial disparities that impact death by overdose in the black communities are key factors in HIV/HCV infection rates.

Blacks are more likely to go unidentified and untreated for both diseases. In the case of HIV the objective is to achieve viral suppression. In the case of HCV the objective is to have folks cured of the disease.

Our approach aims to improve the health of individuals who use drugs and reduce drug overdose mortality. We also work toward achieving sustainable and impactful improvements in community health.

Want to Know More?

For more information about these programs, including Medically Assisted Treatment, please reach out to Lauren Etchingham, Mon-Fri, 9am – 5pm. Contact:

415-674-5180

Medications for Opiod Use Disorder (MOUD) Program

Low threshold/low barrier outpatient treatment MOUD Access/Same day Suboxone Starts take place in the Health Hub on Mondays and Fridays from 9:00 am to 12:00pm in partnership with SFDPH street medicine team.

The goal of our “Low-Threshold” MOUD access program is to provide services such as Suboxone/Subutex, BRIXAD, Contingency Management programs and access to Methadone Clinics at as low a barrier as possible. Our on-site Suboxone tele-health services allow most people get a prescription that same day.

Another piece of this program involves providing continued support and case management services to help empower participants to meet their personal substance use & life goals.

Please reach out to Lauren Etchingham with any questions on MOUD.

Testing and Linkage Services

Free HIV and Hepatitis C testing and linkages to HIV and Hepatitis C treatment.

Syringe Access and Supplies (SAS): Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday, 9:00 AM – 1:00 PM (At Taylor Street Gate on the corner of Taylor Street and Ellis Street) Not open on Wednesdays.

HIV/Hep C/STI Testing: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday, 9:00 AM – 1:00 PM (Check-In with SAS desk on Taylor Street) Not open on Wednesdays.

Starting July 1, 2022 will offer HIV/Hep C/STI Testing (Check-In at the SAS desk on Taylor Street)

Same-day Suboxone Starts: Monday – Friday, 9am-12pm; 6th floor closed – Please contact your case manager by phone or email for assistance.

Services include:

HIV, Hepatitis C, and STI Testing and Risk Reduction Counseling
Syringe Access Services (SAS) (free syringe distribution and disposal, safer-use supplies, and Narcan distribution)
Street Outreach and Community Engagement
Healthcare Navigation
Same-day Suboxone Start (via tele-health appointment)
Drug Overdose Prevention & Education
Linkages to care and services based on individual needs
For more information, call 415-674-5180.

Syringe Access Services (SAS)

The Syringe Access Services program, better known as SAS, is where participants can get safer drug use supplies, like sterile needles and injection equipment, naloxone and overdose reversal training, PPE, safer sex supplies, and sharps disposal containers.

At the Health Hub on Ellis Street, the SAS desk is a common initial touchpoint for participants as we can connect them to HIV, Hepatitis C, and STI testing, health systems navigation, and case management.

We also provide safer smoking supplies. Hours are 9am to 1pm Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays. We also have a Friday night site from 6pm to 8pm in the old site of St James Infirmary on Eddy st.

Syringe Access and Supplies: Monday, Tuesday, and Friday, 9am – 1pm
6th floor – Please contact your case manager by phone or email for assistance.
Testing hours are from 9am to 12 pm on the 6^th floor on Mondays, Tuesdays and Fridays and 1pm to 4pm in the health hub in partnership with the UCSF vaccination clinic team. The UCSF team also provides hep-A and hep-B vaccines.

Hepatitis C Navigation Program

The Orlando Chavez Peer Hepatitis Community Navigation program in partnership with End Hep C SF is a stipend volunteer opportunity similar to an internship. Each cohort of participants with lived experience (Case Manager) are invited to assist our department in linking clients to our services with a focus on Hepatitis C. Cohorts last six months.

Cohorts last 6 months to a year. The participants receive training and skill building opportunities, and assist with engaging, linking, and retaining clients living with HIV and/or Hepatitis C in treatment/care.

In this experience CNs perform direct services, and support outreach by making harm reduction kits.

CNs are also taught about the history and principles of harm reduction and all relevant evidence-based health interventions that are relevant to the work we do, like systemic racial disparities and the history of the drug war, etc.They have the opportunity to further their education as well as gain work readiness experience, build their resumes and become HEAT advocates.

This team also staffs our point pick up program keeping the streets of the Tenderloin and surrounding neighborhoods free of syringe litter. Space is limited and there is a high demand. For more information email wbastion@glide.org

Our team regularly conducts on foot street outreach in the Tenderloin, Civic Center and other areas in San Francisco as needed, providing harm reduction and safer sex supplies, linkage to testing and care, Narcan, and brief supportive counseling/education/referrals as needed.

We use basic harm reduction principles and strategy aimed at reducing the risks and harmful effects associated with using drugs. Not just physically meeting participants where they are at but meeting them in a nonjudgmental, caring and compassionate manor. Our outreach team reduces the amount of fatal overdose, emergency service calls, viral hepatis, HIV, abscesses and other infections.

We want to see our community thriving! We are here to support positive change in peoples lives as well as give them the supplies and skills to be healthy today. Working with the community we serve to achieve equity and social justice for and with people who use drugs and sex workers alike.

HRx Case Management and Support/Advocacy

The goals of HRx Case Management are to connect with participants in meaningful ways, establishing trust and community, and to support them in connecting to services. Taking a ‘whole person integrated care’ approach, we support participants in many diverse areas of their lives. From peer counseling and housing advocacy to SSI case prep and support in court, we take our cues from our clients and center them as they build towards stability and balance. GLIDE Harm reduction provides these services through our SIP program to participants who reside in Shelter In Place (SIP) Hotels, Safe Sleep Sites, and Navigation Centers.

Testing and Health Systems Navigation

GLIDE provides free, low-barrier testing services for the community. We offer Rapid HIV testing and Rapid Hepatitis C testing and provide results within 20 minutes. We also offer free oral, vaginal, and rectal swab testing for STI’s including gonorrhea, chlamydia, and syphilis. Unfortunately, we do not offer penile swab testing or urine testing. If you are looking for penile testing, please contact or visit San Francisco City Clinic at 356 7th Street. Our hours for on-site testing are Monday-Wednesdays from 9am-1pm. Additionally, we provide incentivized testing at various community-based sites such as Navigation Centers, shelters, shelter-in-place hotels, community resource fairs, and SRO’s.

For anyone living with HIV, Hepatitis C, or an STI infection, we offer linkage and case management services to treatment. Our Health Systems Case Managers offer additional support needed in order to achieve treatment goals, including transportation to/from appointments, appointment reminders, warm hand-offs to a suitable clinic or provider, home visits, insurance assistance, medication adherence support, and referrals. In addition to these services, we also offer a monthly gift card incentive program for any client enrolled in our navigation services.

Mobile Integrated Services

The historical integrated mobile services program, provides low-barrier engagement for individuals with limited access to care. The team offers consistent support, managing caseloads to foster ongoing relationships and improve health access.

Using outreach vans, GLIDE mobile teams are focused on street engagement and providing in-the-field services, connecting clients to on-the-spot Case Managers who can guide a client to whatever services necessary and assist them on their path towards stability.

The HEAT team acts as case managers, regularly partnering with medical teams and HEAT staff, including Hepatitis C and Medications for Opiod Use Disorder (MOUD) Case Managers. Lauren Etchingham from the MOUD team joins weekly to strengthen and expand connections established by GLIDE HEAT Case Managers Rizzy Spoer and Felanie Castro. This collaboration enhances opportunities for stabilization, overdose prevention, improved health, disease prevention, and access to housing, shelter, and recovery.

Over time, GLIDE’s HEAT team has established partnerships across the SF Bay Area, connecting participants to primary care, housing, treatment, and other critical services within and beyond the SF Health Network.