Personas

• Varied, DePaul & Loyola students coming for birth control options due to lack of insurance, sometimes those coming from conservative backgrounds who don’t feel comfortable getting resources from their other providers.
• Sometimes testing appointments can be quick, 10 minutes in and out and no lingering.
• Some folks will come every day that utilize many services both medical and otherwise.
• Some behavioral health clients may be waiting a long time (1 hour or more) for an appointment as providers become available in the waiting room.

Team and Who is Served

BYC serves anyone who needs to access their services, but the focus is really on reaching those who are experiencing homelessness as this is a core value and mission. BYC would also like to really focus on those that are long term users of their services.

General Thoughts, Ideas, & Concerns about the Existing Space & New

The clinics visual/direct connection to the drop-in space is important. Sometimes a person in the Drop-in space may experience medical emergencies that need immediate attention. A crash cart that is also located in this area is needed.

Drop in would also like the opportunity to be larger so that it might grow in the future.

A “calm” room in the drop in space or clinic would be really helpful as some people coming to the clinic may be experiencing trauma, anger, or have other issues they are bringing with them and they need a quiet space to “calm”. This is a quiet room away from the business of the drop in or waiting area.

A release (or de-escalation) room would be desired for the clinic team. Location of that room doesn’t necessarily need to be in the clinic, but maybe close. Padded or impact resistant walls where people can literally throw things.

One idea was for the drop in space to be adjacent to the clinic and the clinic could then span the floor above (2 floors) so that the clinic would have a direct connection to the drop in.

Drop in could also have (1 – 2) exam rooms for ease and accessibility to clinic services.

Mixed ideas about a separate entrance for the clinic off the street. Some felt that the separate entrance may make someone feel “other” and might produce stigma. If there was a central check in then everyone would be going through the “same process”

Two separate check-ins seemed to be a good idea if there were not (2) entrances, one for general check in and services, and one for clinic services.

Right now everyone is seen in a room for the clinical services then typically led to a triage space then they may wait for awhile before they are seen by possibly another provider (behavioral health or other). SO having in between spaces for waiting or a central waiting area would be important.

More testing rooms/health education rooms that do not necessarily feel “medical” but might be comfortable.

Team needs more individual working spaces that are larger, right now people do not have enough space to spread out and work. Lots of shared working spaces.

The drop-in space would ideally be sized to accommodate a larger group of individuals in the future, right now it is sized for 15 – 25 (max) and be on its own floor, wherever that is.

BYC has previously functioned in a space that had 2 floors with drop in on Floor 2 and clinic/programming on 3. It was stated that it has worked in the past and there was a stair that directly connected the Clinic to the Drop-in.

It may be nice/desired for Behavioral Health & Psychiatry to have their own waiting area separate from the clinic if the two are separated by floor.

One recurring idea was to have a smaller drop in clinic area (exam rooms) on or just off of the Drop-in space. It seems the proximity of these programs is important, and the logistics of this connection is one to be thought through.

Internal communication systems between teams will become important in this new building where there are divisions of program by floors. IE reception and drop in areas will need to easily communicate with the reception at the Clinic(s).

Some basic needs and requests are:

Printers in each Exam/clinic room. Right now walking to the printer wastes time/resources.

A staff break room is needed & important as staff rarely have time to take a break now and really feel then need time to themselves throughout the day which they don’t always get.

Needs to be a sense of “calm” amongst the chaos. Every staff member needs to have a space that is their OWN where they can “touchdown” during the day.

Every staff member is above all things, a Youth Worker and puts forth A LOT of energy every day on the job. BYC also holds all of their staff to a very high standard of care as these are important values to the organization.

Integration of drop-in to the clinic is one item that we will really need to address as it has been stated that these teams have really been working on their communication together to get things more efficient. This should not be lost in the future if the program is separated

One additional space that may not be on our list is to have a couple multipurpose testing rooms/health education. These will serve as the spaces where HIV testing might occur or if staff needs to have 1:1 time with a client to discuss next steps or educate them on their healthcare treatment plan. These wouldn’t have to be like exam rooms but more comfortable spaces.

Fitness/Gross Motor/Dancing room for staff/clients

A space for staff only where they can co and NOT PASS clients is also really important.

Staff bathrooms- multi-stall restrooms for staff ONLY

All client bathrooms should have changing tables as well for children.

Bike storage – covered and in a place that can get muddy/dirty

Clinic team is really interested in the flow of the clinical rooms/spaces and getting this correct as the space at Sheridan doesn’t seem well thought out. Dave Mikos to present team with several options for how this might work and past case studies.

Ideally there would also be a pharmacy located adjacent to the clinic.

There may also need to be a space for medication administration/observation. Also IV fluids & meds may also need to be given in this room/space.

The building should also be colorful and reflect Howard Brown’s colors.