NACA Report July 25, 2014
On July 24, the Restore Rundberg Community meeting was held at the Settlement Home. The Restore Rundberg team will have a team retreat on August 2 at the Holiday Inn Express to discuss what has been accomplished during the last year and where the focus will be for the future.
Interviews have been completed of the applicants for the positions of Community Engagement Specialist and Administrative support. The finalists are undergoing a review by the City of Austin Human Resources Department. A public announcement introducing the two part-time employees is expected by mid-August.
Team members and other residents of the Rundberg area participated in the PULSE count on July 23 for the area bounded by Parmer on the north, Cameron on the east, Research on the south and MOPAC on the west. The count identified 98 homeless people in the area. This number was more than twice the number identified in January of this year. However, after the event on the 23rd, it was determined that possibly some known homeless sites were missed. For the next count in January 2015, it is very important to have residents of the NACA area who are familiar with the area to participate.
At the June 12 team meeting of Restore Rundberg, a representative from Freedom Schools gave a presentation of their summer program currently being performed in East Austin. The program is a reading and general education workshop for approximately 50 children endeavoring to keep them engaged in learning throughout the summer vacation. Roberto Perez and Erica Saenz of the Restore Rundberg team are starting the effort to expand the program to the Rundberg area for the summer of 2015.
Travis County District Attorney with the help of funding approved in the last legislative session is establishing a special court to handle prostitution cases with the hope of providing viable alternatives to the women who are working in this degrading profession.
Mary Jo Hernandez reported on the current status of the health care in the Rundberg area. Some of the major findings are:
o At the present time, access to medical care for children, adults, and seniors is severely compromised by an inadequate number of providers at all levels of expertise and in all medical fields and by maxed out physical space.
o Uniquely, the Seton Topfer Clinic on Payton Gin is financially hampered in their ability to serve their neighbors because of Seton’s refusal to participate as a Federally Qualified Provider which would provide the clinic with substantially better reimbursement per patient visit and thus more patients unable to pay could receive care.
o The Braker Lane Clinic is making a concerted effort to increase the number of evening and Saturday appointments. Thirty percent of the clients rely on public transportation which at this time is totally inadequate. Discussions are underway with Capital Metro to alleviate this situation.
o Urgent care and after hour emergency care is not available in the area.
o There is no drug or alcohol abuse treatment facilities in the Rundberg area. The only treatment available is on East 2nd Street and it is an outpatient facility with a  poor success rate.