Leadership
Help Shape the Future of the Network
2012-2013 Call for Steering Committee Nominations
We invite you to nominate yourself or a fellow clinician to apply for a position on the Health Care for the Homeless (HCH) Clinicians’ Network Steering Committee. Consisting of 15 Network members, the Steering Committee is responsible for setting the clinical agenda for the Council. To accomplish this work, the Steering Committee meets monthly by teleconference and twice a year in-person — in October at the Council headquarters in Nashville, TN and in June during the National Health Care for the Homeless Conference (location depends on year).
Currently, four Steering Committee positions are open to any current Network member who has been a member for at least one year. The Network membership will elect successful candidates during the annual membership meeting to serve a three-year term (July 2012 – June 2015), with possible re-election to a 2nd three-year term. Please take advantage of this opportunity to nominate a clinician to collaborate with other clinical leaders and participate in the work of the Network and the National Health Care for the Homeless Council.
Who Should I Nominate?
We encourage applications from current hands-on providers in any discipline, especially oral health providers, mental health specialists, substance abuse specialists and outreach workers. We accept applications from all geographical regions and are heavily recruiting in the midwest and southern regions of the United States. We also encourage applications from providers who have a personal history of homelessness.
In helping us identify appropriate candidates, consider the qualities and experiences that help make clinicians ideal for the Steering Committee. Consider how a candidate views working in health care for the homeless and how they might represent clinicians on a national level.
Questions?
If you have questions, please contact the Program Administrative Assistant, Morgan Porter, at mporter@nhchc.org. If you have a question about your membership status or length of membership, please contact the Administrative Coordinator Pat Petty at ppetty@nhchc.org.
Nominations Process
- Any Network member may nominate candidate(s) for election to the Steering Committee.
- All candidates must be currently providing hands-on care to homeless people.
- The candidate must have been a member of the Network for at least one year by the time of his/her election to the Steering Committee. Ideally, candidates will have experience on one of the Network’s many committees, work groups or task forces.
- Self-nomination by members is acceptable and encouraged.
- Each candidate must have potential to chair a working committee and become a Network officer.
- The Membership Committee will interview each candidate to learn more about them as individuals and ascertain the skills and strengths he or she would bring to the Steering Committee.
- After interviewing all candidates, the Membership Committee will prepare a slate of Steering Committee nominees considering the need for diversity of clinical discipline, geographic location and demography among those candidates who are interested, available and qualified.
- Network staff will email the final slate of nominees to the Network Membership at least 30 days before the annual membership meeting at the National Conference in May.
Application Process
Interested candidates must complete and submit the following materials by the January 20, 2012, deadline:
- 2012 Nomination Form
- Letter explaining why the candidate wishes to serve on the Steering Committee (including assurance of regular participation in monthly Steering Committee conference calls and face-to-face meetings);
- Letter of approval from the candidate’s superior giving approval for the candidate’s participation in Steering Committee activities; and
- Current resume or curriculum vitae.
Elections Process
- The membership will elect Network members to the Steering Committee during the annual Network membership meeting, which is in conjunction with the National Health Care for the Homeless Conference & Policy Symposium.
- For purposes of electing Steering Committee members, each current Network member is entitled one vote for each vacancy. A majority vote of the Network membership is required to elect a nominee to the Steering Committee.
Term Of Office
- Each Steering Committee member is elected to serve a three-year term.
- Members of the Steering Committee may serve two full consecutive terms, if elected by the Network membership.
- After a one-year absence from the Steering Committee, a member may be elected to the Steering Committee again.
- Steering Committee members assume office upon completion of the annual Network membership meeting.
Roles & Responsibilities
- The Steering Committee is the Network’s governing body; it manages, controls and directs the affairs of the membership.
- Steering Committee members are subject to Network bylaws and the Board of Directors of the National Health Care for the Homeless Council, Inc.
- Steering Committee members are expected to serve on at least one working committee, participate in monthly committee conference calls, and complete committee assignments.
- Members are expected to attend all Steering Committee meetings (i.e. 2 meetings annually).
- Members are asked to recruit at least two new members to the Network annually.
- The National Council covers conference call expenses and reimburses travel expenses to the fall meeting in Nashville.
- Steering Committee members serve without compensation.
Removal Of Members From The Steering Committee
- A Steering Committee member is subject to removal when he or she is no longer providing health care services to individuals who are homeless.
- Steering Committee member may be removed from office with just cause by consensus of the Steering Committee. Just cause includes-but is not limited to-recorded absence at three consecutive committee conference calls, or three consecutive Steering Committee meetings.
- If the Steering Committee determines that any member is obstructive to the progress or well being of the Network, the remaining Steering Committee members may remove said member by consensus decision.
- All Steering Committee transactions will be conducted in a manner to avoid any conflict of interest.
2011 – 2012 Network Officers
- Phone
- (719) 471-2789
- homeless@peakvista.org
Greg Morris, PA-C
Chair
Homeless Health Care Program Director, Peak Vista Community Health Centers, Inc., Colorado Springs, CO
I have worked at Peak Vistas Homeless Health Center for 17 years. Program Director for 6 years. National Humanitarian PA of the year in 2002 for sleeping on the streets with the homeless, and instituting mobile Medical Outreach Van to the Soup Truck in the evening. Developed Mobile Medical Van rural outreach program in 2009. Founder and Executive Director Of Ascending To health Respite Care this past year. Steering Committee for CN since 2008. Have attended every National Healthcare for the Homeless Conference since 1999. Favorite Color is Blue, love the Mountains and fly-fishing to relieve stress.
- Phone
- (415) 734-4215
- michelle_nance@yahoo.com
Michelle Nance, NP, RN, MSN
Chair-Elect
Nurse Practitioner, San Francisco Department Public Health, Housing & Urban Health, San Francisco, CA
Michelle Nance is an adult nurse practitioner in the San Francsico DPH Housing & Urban Health Clinic and in the SF Medical Respite. She lives in Oakland, CA, which is a fabulous city – don’t believe what you read in the news! She wishes she could spend all her spare time scuba diving.
- Phone
- (410) 837-5533
- drobertshaw@hchmd.org
Danielle Robertshaw, MD
Fiscal Rep.
Medical Officer, Health Care for the Homeless, Baltimore, MD
Bio coming soon.
2011 – 2012 Steering Committee Members
Region I
Mollie Bresnahan, M.Ed., LMHC
Springfield, MA
I am a clinical mental health counselor with the Health Care for the Homeless Program in Springfield, MA. I have been with the program and working with an incredibly dynamic team for 6 years now and we welcome the challenges that the field of homelessness brings every day with a holistic approach to our work. We feel that health care includes mental health, physical health as well as social health and we find that humor and thinking “outside the box” is most often appropriate! In my spare time I enjoy traveling, exploring archaeological ruins, and spending time with family and friends.
Region II
Brian Colangelo, MSW, LCSW
Camden, NJ
Sharon Joseph, MD
Bronx, NY
Sharon (PJ) Joseph, MD, is a Pediatrician and Medical Director of the New York Children’s Health Project- an organization that provides primary care to New York City’s homeless families. She feels one of the most rewarding things about this work is that it brings some measure of order to the chaos the families face on a daily basis.
Region III
Jan P. Caughlan, LCSW-C
Baltimore, MD
Danielle Robertshaw, MD
Baltimore, MD
Region IV
Cathryn Marchman
Atlanta, GA
Region V
Bob Donovan, MD
Cincinnati, OH
Bob Donovan, MD has been a family physician with the Cincinnati Health Care for the Homeless Program for 23 years. Currently he is President of the Board of the HCH Council. He is co-producer of video projection for a Pink Floyd cover band, Signs of Life.
Region VI
Cicely Campbell
New Orleans, LA
Region VII
Vacant
Region VIII
Greg A. Morris, PA-C
Colorado Springs, CO
Region IX
Michelle Nance, NP, RN, MSN
San Francisco, CA
Michelle Nance is an adult nurse practitioner in the San Francsico DPH Housing & Urban Health Clinic and in the SF Medical Respite. She lives in Oakland, CA, which is a fabulous city – don’t believe what you read in the news! She wishes she could spend all her spare time scuba diving.
Barbara Wismer, MD, MPH
San Francisco, CA
I’ve been a doctor at Tom Waddell Health Center/Homeless Programs in San Francisco for 14 years. I love working with my talented and passionate colleagues on the Steering Committee to improve homeless health care at the national level. My areas of interest are chronic pain and traumatic brain inury/cognitive impairment, as well as quality improvement and team-base care – as well as running, meditating, and exploring the outdoors!
Paul Leon
San Juan Capistrano, CA
Region X
Bernie Creaven, MN, RN
Seattle, WA
Over the past ten years I have worked as a HCH outreach nurse and program coordinator for Carolyn Downs Family Clinic in Seattle. I’m the Chair of the National Pediatric and Family Committee. This is my 5th year on the Steering Committee. I have worked as a nurse for over 30 years in Ireland, Sudan, Malawi, Thailand, Iraq, Romania, Peru, and Ecuador. My interest includes strengthening family systems, parenting, preventative health care, cross cultural care, patient advocacy, and self care and wellness. I enjoy teaching and have recently become life coach. I offer this service to homeless clients.
I live in Seattle with my husband Rich, my 18 year old son Aaron and 16 year old daughter Heather. To try and keep balanced I meditate, hike, run, ski, travel, enjoy family friends and cooking.
I love my job because I have an opportunity to work with newborn babies, teens, adults and elders, refugees and immigrants. I’m constantly learning and growing both as a clinician and as a human being. I work within a multidisciplinary team and as a result have excellent support so we can provide the best health care possible. It’s an immense privilege to assist families during a vulnerable time in their life. I’m appreciative of the support I receive from CDFMC and HCH to work on a national level to fight the devastating impact of homelessness.
Respite Care Providers’ Network 
National Consumer Advisory Board 
Clinicians’ Network 
