As students head back to school, the Children’s Health Center (CHC) has once again gone above and beyond to make sure San Francisco’s kids are healthy and ready to learn. Each summer from May through September, CHC cares for nearly 6,000 pediatric patients—70% of whom are Spanish-speaking—providing essential preventive care and vaccinations. In 2024 alone, CHC delivered an extraordinary 15,314 vaccines across primary care, urgent care, and specialty visits, with nearly 10,000 administered during regular primary care appointments.

To meet this high demand and prevent the usual “August Crunch” of last-minute visits, the CHC team launched the Kinder Project. CHC’s Quality Improvement (QI) team worked with the DPH Population Health team to begin outreach as early as February. By May, CHC had mailed school forms to families with up-to-date vaccines and Well Child Visits, eliminating unnecessary clinic visits. Through this effort—and by digitizing forms and making them accessible via MyChart in collaboration with SFUSD—75% of kinder-aged CHC patients completed their visits before school started.

Another major contributor to this success was the launch of CHC’s new Open Access system in January. This upgrade allows families to schedule appointments through multiple channels, including Fast Pass (text), MyChart, or the SFHN Call Center. By releasing appointment slots closer to the date of the visit, CHC improved scheduling flexibility and reduced no-show rates—making care more accessible and convenient for all.

CHC’s proactive and inclusive approach also extends to flu season. In 2024, Nurse Manager Tonia Vega and her team made flu vaccination a top QI priority. By proactively scheduling follow-up doses and addressing vaccine hesitancy with empathy and clear information, 65% of children seen at CHC received their flu vaccination, up from 56% the previous year. Extended clinic hours—weekday evenings and Saturdays—plus targeted text reminders helped reach even more families.

Looking ahead, CHC remains focused on closing disparities in care to ensure ALL children have the support they need to get their needed vaccines.

A big congratulations to the entire CHC team, including Dr. David Gordon, Nurse Manager Tonia Vega, and SFHN Director of Primary Care Dr. Blake Gregory and Deputy Director Carol Taniguchi for their thoughtful, coordinated, and patient-centered approach to keeping kids healthy and ready to thrive.

– Susan