By Jenna Dennison

jdennison@vashonbeachcomber.com

Vashon Youth & Family Services’ Oasis program, which connects islanders with social service programs and makes other referrals to low-income residents, has recently found a new home at the Vashon United Methodist Church (VUMC).

The VYFS case management program, which has served 387 local families thus far in 2021, has also added drop-in hours, moved into the VUMC space in August. Pre-COVID, the program had been based in an office at the Vashon Senior Center. However, due to program growth at the Senior Center, Oasis needed to find a new place to go.

Thus, the opportunity to house the program at the Methodist church was made possible.

“We have several people in our church that are connected with VYFS in multiple ways,” said Mark Wagner, pastor of VUMC. “The way that I learned about their interest was that one of our councilmembers, whose wife works at VYFS, reached out to me and said that they were interested in potentially using our space.”

The proposal for the partnership was brought to the church’s council, where “everyone was in favor.”

“We really want to do our best to make sure that every individual and every family on this island really has what they need in order to lead a full life,” said Wagner.

VUMC’s central location will also be convenient for those utilizing Oasis’ services.

“We really want to be centrally located for folks that had a more difficult time getting out to our main office, and just to have drop-in hours so folks don’t have to make an appointment,” said Meagan FitzGerald, Oasis’ Community Resource Navigator, “If they’re around, they can pop in.”

FitzGerald has worked for VYFS for six years and has been affiliated with the Oasis program “on and off” for about five years.

She and her colleague, Deborah Rieschel, a counselor case manager at VYFS, collaborate on Oasis together. As a community resource navigator, FitzGerald meets with clients directly from 12 p.m. to 3 p.m., on Thursdays, at VUMC.

In her role at Oasis, FitzGerald works to advocate and connect islanders with resources and social services.

“Folks can come in and say, really, anything,” said FitzGerald. “‘I can’t pay my rent this month,’ or ‘ I can’t find childcare,’ or ‘I need to find a nursing home for my aging parent with dementia.’ Anything like that, we just sit together and go over what their needs are, and then we make the appropriate referrals to different agencies, hopefully on the island but also off the island if need be.”

Oasis also offers a voucher program, which is funded largely through Granny’s Attic and fundraising. These vouchers cover a variety of needs, such as ferry passes for off-island medical appointments, secondary medical vouchers, VIGA boxes, and prescription vouchers.

“That’s a huge service for folks, and people can just walk in and sit and chat with me about what their needs are, and then actually leave with something in hand,” said FitzGerald.

Hours for Oasis have expanded during the pandemic, as FitzGerald said she is also able to speak with those interested in accessing Oasis’ services by phone from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., on Wednesdays and Thursdays, at 207- 200-6788.

Jeni Johnson, executive director of VYFS, praised FitzGerald’s work in the program, noting that she is bilingual in English and Spanish, and very knowledgeable about resources for housing, food, medical care, childcare, transportation and more.

“We call her a ‘navigator’ rather than a ‘manager’ because we believe partnering with clients in learning to access resources is more empowering and respectful than positioning ourselves as the gatekeepers of those resources,” Johnson said.

In addition to opening the new Oasis office, VYFS is also continuing to prepare for its future in a different way.

In May, VYFS released its Behavioral Health Needs Assessment, prepared by Dr. Yve Susskind, a longtime islander.

The report, in describing challenges faced by islanders, focused on several key components, including Vashon’s remoteness as an island, community and individual risk factors, barriers to accessing services, systemic challenges and equity concerns.

“Food and housing insecurity, inadequate mental health support, lack of health insurance, an absence of living wage jobs, and the high cost of living leave some facing impossible choices as they try to make ends meet,” were listed in the Needs Assessment Summary Report.

It was also found that the on-island services that are in place are overburdened and are without adequate resources. For instance, Vashon is without a domestic violence shelter, making it challenging for survivors of domestic violence to leave without transitional housing.

The report also raised concerns about equity.

“People who arguably have the most trauma and stress have the least adequate mental health care, because care covered by Medicaid (which has very low reimbursement rates) often involves unlicensed professionals to stretch limited dollars to reach more people… the care that would help them is often inaccessible because it is provided by specialists in private practice who are unlikely to take insurance at all,” stated the Assessment Summary Report.

The assessment also raised issues with how those impacted by services are left out of key decisions about them.

“There is no community-wide approach to engage those most impacted by decisions about the services meant to benefit them… The result is decisions that not only fail to meet the real needs of communities, but that also leave in place the systems and structures that kept them from the table in the first place,” the report said.

The findings of the Assessment did “resonate” with Johnson and reflected her experiences in working on Vashon.

“One of our key challenges is finding ways to get out of our silos to work together in strategic ways so that we are not duplicating services or overlooking gaps in service,” said Johnson. “That sort of thoughtful partnering also allows us to be more efficient with resources and to offer services that no one organization can provide alone. If we each try to do it all on our own, we will fail and vulnerable islanders will suffer.”

Johnson also said that a new referral partnership between VYFS and the Vashon DOVE Project will enable clients experiencing familial trauma to get short-term counseling right away.

The full Behavioral Needs Assessment can be viewed online at vyfs.org.