This post covers the typical workflows clients may experience at St. Vincent’s House. The first section views client encounters through the lens of the documents they will fill out, and the later section clarifies some protocols (guidelines really) on how to handle situations that I’ve seen come up.

Table of Contents

Workflow of documents

New clients

First we’ll consider clients who are entirely new to St. Vincent’s House. Regardless of the reason they’re coming to St. Vincent’s House (e.g. emergency assistance or the food pantry), they’ll fill out the onboarding form plus the survey item.

The onboarding form collects the basic information needed to create a profile in Apricot, and contains signature lines that allow clients to be eligible to use the food pantry and receive case management later (if needed).

The survey item is attached to the end of the onboarding form, and serves two purposes:

1. Allows us to “screen” clients’ needs and suggest potential other services that may help them (e.g. medical services, emergency assistance, Rx services)
2. Allows us to track progress of these needs over time (more on this in the section below)

The general workflow for most new clients is as follows:

graph LR;

  m1(Onboarding form <br>+ Screening item)

  m3[Suggest other services<br>if applicable]
  m4(Use pantry)



  subgraph Needs Emergency assistance
  EA_packet[Fills out EA packet]
  end
  proceed>Proceed with services as usual]
  style proceed fill:#dff0d8,stroke:#356635,color:#356635

  m1 -.-> m3
  m1 ==> m4
  m4 ==> proceed

  %% for people not already in system
  %% --if not in system-->
  m1-->EA_packet
  EA_packet-->m4


  %% Process of filling out survey
  %%subgraph Survey
  %%s1-->s2
  %%s2-->s3
  %%end

Because there is such a high prevalence of people needing emergency assistance due to the pandemic, many clients are also filling out the emergency assistance supplemental packet upon intake.

Returning clients

Returning clients present a more diverse range of potential scenarios, but we’ll start with the more basic situations and build up to more complex scenarios.

Survey is due

Returning clients will have completed on of these screening items upon onboarding, but we will also ask them to re-evaluate their needs periodically. Apricot allows us to set up a warning that will appear alerting staff/volunteers that the client is due for their survey. The general idea for returning clients is below:

graph TB;
  m1(Returning client?)
  m2(How long since<br>last assessment?)
  m3(Survey item)
  refer[Suggest other services<br>if applicable]
  proceed>Proceed with services as usual]
  style proceed fill:#dff0d8,stroke:#356635,color:#356635
  style m2 fill:#efb73e,stroke:#333,stroke-width:3px;

  m1 == Yes ==> m2


  m2 -- Over 3 months --> m3
  subgraph Repeat Screening item
  m3 -.-> refer
  end
  %% refer -.-> proceed
  m3 --> proceed
  m2 == < 3 months ==> proceed


  %% Process of filling out survey
  %%subgraph Survey
  %%s1-->s2
  %%s2-->s3
  %%end

We could set up a trigger in Apricot that emails case management if the client’s score is below a certain threshold (regardless of if the client is new or returning). Ideally the person in the pantry will also be aware of the other services offered by St. Vincent’s House and can informally recommend follow up at the point of service, but the email trigger would provide added degree of robustness to this system.

Form B expired

When clients fill out Form B (the form for the Galveston County Food Bank), we are supposed to set an expiration date at which they need to re-complete the form. This follows the same idea as the survey item above where it flags clients in Apricot who need to re-complete their Form B based on an expiration date.

If it’s been awhile (or their household has changed), it might just be best to have them complete the entire onboarding packet again. This makes sense if the “shelf life” of Form B is a year or two, but might become cumbersome if clients are filling out the onboarding more frequently.

Household membership not up to date

A very common problem I’ve encountered is that the members of the household listed in Apricot don’t match what the client tells us verbally. My experience has been that this appears to be due to a data entry issue (e.g. nobody was entered in the household besides the head of household), but this isn’t always the case.

This is a tricky problem, because we don’t know if it’s an Apricot issue (i.e. they put five people on their Form B, but only 3 got entered) or if they’ve actually had a change in their household (i.e. two kids are now living with them, but were not when they filled out Form B originally). This is something we should discuss further, but the safe bet is to make them fill out Form B again, but only have them fill out the individual information of Form B for people not in their household already.

The overall flow of these situations are below:

graph TB;
  a1(Returning client?)
  a2(Form B expired?)
  a3(Household<br>out-of-date?)
  a4(Survey needed?)
  b([Complete Form B])
  i([Update individuals])
  s([Complete survey])
  proceed>Proceed with services as usual]
  style proceed fill:#dff0d8,stroke:#356635,color:#356635

  classDef keyNode fill:#efb73e,stroke:#333,stroke-width:3px;
  class a2,a3,a4 keyNode;

  a1 == Yes ==> a2
  a2 -. Yes .-> b
  %%b --> a4
  a2 == No ==> a3
  b -.-> a4
  a3 == No ==> a4
  a3 -. Yes .-> i
  i -.-> a4
  a4 == No ==> proceed
  a4 -. Yes .-> s
  s -.-> proceed

Protocols

This section focuses on some of the services provided by St. Vincent’s House, and the frequency that clients can receive them. Importantly, these are guidelines for the minimum frequency clients can receive services, and aren’t intended to be restrictive (i.e. depending on the situation clients may receive services more frequently than listed here).

Here is a broad outline of the services covered in this section:

graph LR;
  fp(Full pantry)
  mp(Modified pantry)
  sp(Snack pack)
  d(Diapers)
  hp(Hygiene packs)

  subgraph Pantry [Food Pantry]
    mp -.-> fp
    fp --> mp
  end

  mp --> sp
  sp -.-> mp

Diapers

Services received: When a client asks for diapers, staff/volunteers should be aware of other items in stock that could be of interest to the client. Most often this will be baby wipes, but clients might also be interested in baby food, disposable gloves (especially for adult diapers), or other various items.

Information recorded: Clients requesting diapers (for either children or adults) should be recorded based on the individual who needs the diapers, so it’s important to enter this information into Apricot before the client leaves the premises.

Frequency: Generally clients receive diapers once per week. When appropriate, they may be given diapers more frequently, but at minimum they are eligible every 7 days.

Hygiene packs

Services received: The contents of hygiene packs will vary based on items in stock, but generally hygiene packs should contain at minimum:

• Soap or body wash
• Shampoo
• Toothpaste and floss
• Other items in stock (this list is not exhaustive)

Additionally, clients should be asked if they need:

• A toothbrush
• Razors or shaving cream
• Tampons and feminine hygiene products
• Condoms

Information recorded: Record the hygiene pack for the person receiving it. Again, do this before you give them the hygiene pack, because it’s important to verify the last time they received a hygiene pack (below).

Frequency: Please check the service log to see the last time they received a hygiene pack. Generally, clients can receive full hygiene packs once a week. If they’re asking for a single item (e.g. a razor or soap), they can be given that item even if they’ve already received a hygiene pack for that week.

Food Services

Broadly, St. Vincent’s House offers two types of food services: the food pantry and snack packs. These two options differ in the frequency clients may use the service and eligibility is determined by clients reported housing situation. Therefore clients may change between either service based on what they say their current needs are, but cannot be enrolled in both services at the same time.

Snack Packs

“Snack packs” are aimed for people experiencing homelessness who may not have a reliable place to store groceries or access to certain cooking appliances (i.e. a stove to cook pasta/rice or a can opener to open cans).

• Contents: One source of protein (usually a type of meat), one drink, and 3-5 other food items (e.g. peanut butter crackers, fruit cup, etc.). All items can be eaten as is without needing a can opener or other appliances.
• Frequency: Clients may pick up one snack pack per day
• Information required: Nothing is required from the client, aside for enough information to log the service in Apricot (e.g. name, DOB).

Food Pantry

The food pantry is run in compliance with the Galveston County Food Bank (GCFB) and the USDA. Clients are not asked to provide a form of identification, proof of income, or proof of current housing status. The person picking up the groceries, however, must be listed as a member of the household on the GCFB form completed upon intake.

• Contents: The contents for the food pantry are distributed in grocery bags (weighing approximately 15 pounds each) depending on the size of the family:
  • 1-3 people in the household: 2 bags (30 lbs)
  • 4-5 people in the household: 4 bags (60 lbs)
  • 6 or more in the household: 6 bags (90 lbs)
• Frequency: Each household may receive groceries once per week
• Information required: Clients must have a valid, unexpired GCFB form on file. Additionally, clients need to sign to affirm to the GCFB that they are picking up the groceries for their household.