Opposition to SB 1045 Conservatorship Bill

SB1045 is a California bill that expands the usage of INVOLUNTARY care for individuals experiencing homelessness+ substance use disorder who have had 8 or more involuntary psychiatric hospitalizations (termed 5150's in California) in the past year. Do No Harm Coalition joined a coalition of voluntary service providers and organizers to speak out in opposition to the bill's implementation in San Francisco. Despite the widespread opposition, in June 2019 the San Francisco Board of Supervisors voted to implement SB1045 in San Francisco. This is extremely problematic for many reasons including the following:

  1. It will lead to people losing the ability to make decisions about what happens to their body, their pet, there they live, what they eat, how they spend their time and their money.
  2. It gives the police the incentive to detain people under 5150 holds (which is in of itself traumatic)
  3. It expands and diverts resources towards involuntary treatment, while there are thousands of people waiting for voluntary treatment and housing that doesn't exist.
  4. There is no evidence to suggest this would reduce homelessness or substance use. 

See DNH Member Yakira Teitel quoted in an article on SB1045 here.

Open Letter from Health Care Practitioners in Support of Moms 4 Housing

This letter was sent January 6, 2020 to the CEO of Wedgewood, the real estate company who should sell the Magnolia street house to Oakland Community Land Trust:

Dear Mr. Greg Geiser,

I’m writing on behalf of physicians, nurses and other health workers who are committed to addressing the upstream causes of the challenging diseases we address on a daily basis in the hospitals and clinics where we see all patients who come through our doors. We are deeply troubled by the sharp rise in homelessness in the Bay Area which greatly impacts the health as well as the quality of life of thousands of people where we work and live. We are acutely troubled by the data that states there are 100,000 vacant units in the Bay Area and only several thousand unhoused people (Graff, SFGate, March 17, 2019). This reality demonstrates that our housing “crisis” is not so much an issue of housing availability. It is a crisis of distribution, much like the so-called famine in Ethiopia, where countless lives were lost not because of crop failure but precisely because of the lack of imagination our current economic system cultivates in the face of human need.

We are writing to urge you to sell the Magnolia Street property to the Oakland Community Land Trust so that the struggling families who are currently occupying the house in Oakland can stay. This house was scooped up from the Black community in the downturn and has been sitting empty while Black families have been put out in the streets. As you may know, the risk of rape, assault, and death as a direct consequence of homelessness made the action of these mothers a deeply desperate one. Remaining in their historically Black neighborhood is critical, because community ties there offer the only safety net for families at risk, serving as surrogates to the economic opportunity that exists in White circles. It is inappropriate to ask the families to vacate a home that is providing them critical shelter in the middle of winter. We understand your company keeps mentioning the legality of what is happening. Please remember that in this country, slavery was legal and murdering indigenous people was legal. Our laws must change to reflect our growing awareness and humanity as a society. Legality is not a reasonable moral argument in the face of a real threat to human health and safety.
Evicting families is a threat to that health and safety. We ask that you and your team meet with these mothers and their advocates to move forward with this solution that can serve as a model for resolving the housing crisis not just here but throughout our state.
Thank you for your consideration. Members of our healthcare team would be happy to accompany any community meeting to ensure the lens of health and human safety remains at the center of all considerations.

Respectfully,
​
Rupa Marya, MD
Associate Professor of Medicine
Faculty Director, Do No Harm Coalition
Commissioner, Healthy California for All Commission
UCSF

Letter to UCSF on Behalf of Limited English Proficient Patients

Dear Friends and Colleagues,

We are writing on behalf of our Limited English Proficient (LEP) patient community demanding that UCSF address the inadequate language services at our hospitals and clinics that are placing many of our patients in harms way. This letter serves as a last resort to a conversation that has been ongoing for almost a decade with hospital administrators, despite repeated documentation and reports of systematic exclusion experienced by our patients.

The failure of our institution to post basic signage, distribute vital documents, provide discharge and pharmacy instructions, or establish minimum competency standards for interpreters in San Francisco's threshold languages is medically, legally, and ethically irresponsible. These inadequate services lead to systemic problems with well-documented errors threatening the health and well-being of patients with Limited English Proficiency (LEP).

As we grapple with acts of hate, discrimination and exclusion, only structural solutions will effectively address the void in structural competencies to support diversity, inclusion and health equity. 

Sincerely,

UCSF Do No Harm Coalition

March for Justice SF

10/6/17-10/20/17

Mothers on the March walked from San Francisco to Sacramento, demanding accountability from State Attorney General Javier Becerra for the police killings of Mario Woods, Alex Nieto, Jessica Williams, Amilcar Perez Lopez, Keneth Hardy Jr and Luis Gongora. 
 
Do No Harm Coalition Statement in Support of the March for Justice SF #MarchForJusticeSF
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View Our Change.org Petition to Pressure University of California Divestment:

Sign Our Healer's Pledge to Defund the Dakota Access Pipeline Personally:

As members of the Do No Harm Coalition and in solidarity with water protectors at Standing Rock, we are asking health workers, including physicians, nurses, aides, assistants, pharmacists, herbalists, midwives, administrators, physician assistants, and all other healers, to take the pledge to de-fund DAPL. Now more than ever, it is important that health workers raise their voices and take action in solidarity with water protectors at Standing Rock to fight the Dakota Access Pipeline.

The pipeline represents a monstrous threat to public health given:
- The high risks it poses to drinking water contamination in the region
- The brutal police response to water protectors’ prayerful resistance
- The negative health consequences of continuing to foster a fossil fuel economy
- The perpetuation of discriminatory practices and policies that are at the root of multiple health inequities (including high rates of mental illness and chronic disease) that disproportionately affect Native American communities

Take the Pledge with us. De-fund the Dakota Access Pipeline.

The Do No Harm Coalition has created a handy tool providing information about where to INVEST the money you DIVEST:

1/26/17
We Resist! No KXL No DAPL

The Do No Harm Coalition  co-sponsored an event with the Native American Health Alliance and Idle No More

11/15/2016
Stand With Standing Rock San Francisco

Thousands gathered for sunrise ceremony and Market Street march to support the water protectors at Standing Rock, North Dakota. The Native American Health Alliance and the Do No Harm Coalition at UCSF joined the day of action because health cannot be created or sustained without protecting clean water and cultural dignity.

​Please help us raise funds and awareness for the Mni Wiconi Health Clinic Partnership at Standing Rock  
https://crowdfund.ucsf.edu/project/2913
Dakota Access Pipeline Protests Spreads to over 300 Cities

11/3/16
Standing Rock Human Rights Response

Rubber bullet on young man's body. This young man coughed up 1 cup of dark red blood 15 minutes after impact. The police and state of North Dakota are violating human rights through excessive force.

Please help support our integrative medical response for Standing Rock.
https://crowdfund.ucsf.edu/project/2913

8/31/2016
Letter To Colin Kaepernick

In medicine, we know that sometimes to help ease something that is suffering, a degree of discomfort is required to shift the status quo

5/31/2016
Killing Them Safely Screening

Do No Harm Coalition was proud to co-sponsor a screening of the powerful documentary film, Killing Them Safely, on May 31, 2016 at the Roxie Theater in San Francisco. 

The screening was followed by a discussion with the film's director, Nick Berardini, and San Francisco Public Defender, Jeff Adach.

5/3/2016
March to SF City Hall

UCSF medical students and physicians accompanied the #Frisco5 hunger strikers as they marched to City Hall to demand a meeting with Mayor Ed Lee on police violence and accountability.

5/18/2016
Action at
​SF City Hall

Members of the Do No Harm Coalition staged a demonstration at SF City Hall and presented a letter to Mayor Ed Lee urging him to act on police violence and impunity.
Photo by Natasha Dangond

5/23/2016
Teach-in at UCSF

Do No Harm Coalition hosted a Reframing the Dialogue, a teach-in on police violence at UCSF, featuring Dr. Rupa Marya, members of the Frisco 5, a representative of Officers for Justice, volunteers from Clínica Martín Baró and UCSF students. 
https://lecture.ucsf.edu/ets/Play/9adebaff781e42be8d008f266e1779bb1d
Copyright © 2016