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PARTNERSHIPS: ENHANCED SERVICES FACILITIES
PARTNERSHIPS: ESFs
How ALTSA’s Enhanced Services Facility team is working with local communities
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Washington’s Enhanced Service Facilities, or ESFs, are the newest long-term care residential setting. ESFs benefit from strong partnerships between ALTSA (both RCS and HCS), developers and local jurisdictions, who work in conjunction to site, develop and monitor new facilities. These strong partnerships ultimately benefit the residents of these ESFs, who, due to their individual needs, may find more success in these facilities than in other types of residential settings.
“When ESFs were established, they really filled a gap in the continuum of care and the array of facilities we have,” said Sandy Spiegelberg, HCS residential support program manager, who oversees the statewide operations and programmatic work of ESFs. “We don’t have as many people going into nursing homes or bouncing back to a hospital setting because they can get their needs met and be part of the community. I think that’s a really necessary service option available for our residents.” primarily serve clients with behavioral support needs and the need for long term services and supports. The facilities can serve up to 16 residents in singleoccupancy rooms and have a staff-to-resident ratio of 1 to 4. They are not behavioral health facilities and do not provide behavioral health services. Residents are free to come and go, and many have jobs or volunteer in their communities.
“When you walk into an ESF, these clients aren’t sitting watching TV,” Sandy said. “They’re up, they’re out in the community, they’re taking a walk, they’re doing a craft.”
The first ESF opened in June of 2016. Currently, there are six in Washington: three in the Spokane area, one in Everett, one in Vancouver and one in Olympia. One more is scheduled to open soon in Vancouver. About eight others are in the process of being established around the state.
to amend or write new zoning ordinances, if necessary. Sometimes this requires outreach to the community, particularly if the matter goes before a planning commission or city council.
“We make ourselves available to answer any questions that might be on the table and participate in the conversation,” said Sondra Silverman, long-term care ESF policy program manager in Residential Care Services. “It’s a lot of educating. Often people don’t understand what an ESF is and there can be misconceptions.”
Once an ESF developer gets the go-ahead from the local jurisdiction to begin work, ALTSA works closely with the developer on the next steps.
“That relationship is huge for the actual development of the facility,” said Justin DeFour, HCS resource development program director. “It takes a long time and even longer now because of COVID, to get these up and running. There’s construction, there’s RCS licensing, there’s contracting. Having these partnerships with administrators makes that go a lot smoother and easier.”
These strong relationships ALTSA has with developers and local jurisdictions are crucial to providing a welcoming, supportive home to ESF residents.
“It’s kind of like providing a team approach,” Sandy said. “Our clients for the most part are coming from state hospitals, so if you think about our clients coming back into the community, we want to have strong services and supports for them at the ESFs. I think partnering closely with the ESF provider is so important because for the most part it’s new for them too. Helping them understand the importance of the transition really helps the clients.”
We don’t have as many people going into nursing homes because they can get their needs met and be part of the community. I think that’s a really necessary service option available for our residents.
