SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (KELO AM) - A pilot project aimed at a coordinated social service system in the Sioux Empire boasts 10,000 clients in just six months.
President of the HelpLine Center, Janet Kittams-Lalley, says the newly minted Sioux Empire Network of Care shares client information through a software platform.
Kittams-Lalley says the project aims to save both clients and the agencies time by avoiding duplicating applications and services.
She says there is a common intake form agreed upon by the participating agencies. The basic information is gathered by a client when they come into any of those social service agencies. It is inputed into the software and then it's accesible by all the partner agencies.
Kittams-Lalley says clients signs a release of information form that allows that information to be shared among the agencies. What is also tracted in the system are the services that each client receives so there will not be a duplication between agencies.
She says the most common comment they get from clients is that they thought information sharing was already happening because "it makes perfect sense."
Kittams-Lalley says the pilot project was funded by the Bush Foundation and that will end in June. She says Help Line was able to identify other funding sources and those will carry the Network of Care through December.
She says the goal is to get three more agencies in the partnership this year and continue the search for funding. The estimate for the cost of running the Network will be $150,000 a year. She says a portion of that will be paid by the partner agencies.
The five participating agencies include St. Francis House, The Center of Hope, Community Outreach, The Help Line Center and Feeding South Dakota.