Return to Novato General Plan MenuThe Human Services Chapter is an optional element of the General Plan. Its purpose is to define ways that the community can better provide and coordinate delivery of services and facilities to those members of the community having special needs. The Human Services Chapter outlines the City's commitment to services such as:
The Human Services Chapter in part supplements the Housing Chapter of the General Plan, which addresses housing for those with special needs, such as the elderly, disabled, and homeless. The Human Services Chapter also correlates with the Transportation Chapter, which discusses transportation access for the elderly and mobility-impaired; the Public Facilities Chapter, which also relates to human services; and the Environment Chapter, which addresses recreation services.
The objectives, policies and programs of the Human Services Chapter are based on the following goal in the Vision and Goals Statement, adopted by the City Council in 1992:
| Goal | Provide and maintain greater recreational, educational (including IVC) and cultural opportunities for all segments of the community. Pursue all efforts with community and neighborhood organizations, nonprofit organizations, for profit organizations, and public agencies to provide care and services, including medical, counseling, recreational, educational, cultural, shelter, and housing opportunities to meet the needs of Novato's citizens. |
2. BACKGROUND
Care of Senior Citizens
Nearly 20 percent of Marin County's senior citizen population live in the Novato area. Between 1980 and 1990, the number of older people (60+) living in Northern Marin increased by 56 percent, the fastest rate of growth in the county. By the year 2010, the senior population (age 65 and over) is expected to double. With this aging of the population, the demand for elder care will grow. Often families in the "sandwich generation" are pressed by needs to care for both aging parents and their own children.
The City of Novato, County of Marin and private entities provide services for senior citizens, including housing assistance, health care, food, counseling, transportation, recreation, and social and legal services. The following discussion reviews some of these services.
Direct Housing Assistance
The following Bay Area agencies provide direct housing assistance to seniors in the Novato area:
The following privately-owned housing complexes in the Novato area are assisted by the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) or accept Section 8 certificates:
Community Care Homes
Community care homes are residential facilities that provide protective oversight but are not licensed as nursing homes. They provide room and board, housekeeping, personal hygiene care, and short-term basic bedside care for temporary illness. Some of the facilities may accept individuals with marginal resources, through Social Security and/or any State supplementary payments. Community care homes in Novato include (1) Crestwood, 1705 Center Road; (2) Family Manor, 830 Tamalpais Avenue, (3) Lensvelt Home, 2771 Center Road; (4) Maribel's Villa, 270 Fairway Drive; (5) Marin Pines, 625 Louise Avenue; (6) S. Alexander's Haven, 120 Kaden Drive; and (7) St. James Residence, 1942 Center Road.
Retirement Homes
Retirement homes provide housing and special services for retired people. There are two retirement residences in Novato: Deer Park, located at 646 Canyon Road, and Tamalpais Creek Retirement Community, located at 853 Tamalpais Avenue. Deer Park provides rooms, meals, and housekeeping services but no personal care assistance for seniors who are disabled. Tamalpais Creek does have units where personal care (also known as residential care or board and care) is also provided.
Convalescent Hospitals
Convalescent hospitals provide long-term, 24-hour nursing services or short-term respite care for the elderly, the chronically ill, or convalescing patients. The Marin County Department of Health and Human Services provides assistance and information to those needing help inplanning for convalescent care. There is only one convalescent hospital in Novato, the Novato Convalescent Hospital at 1665 Hill Road.
Other Senior Services
The following organizations provide other types of services for seniors in the Novato area:
Child Care
Child care is a pressing need in Novato. Child care services, particularly for infants and for children who are ill, can be difficult to find and are often expensive. Infant care is particularly scarce because infants require more equipment and more time from care givers, and because State regulations require lower adult/child ratios for infants than for older children.
The need for child care in Novato is expected to increase due to three major trends:
The Novato Unified School District policy is to provide by contract before- and after-school child care in each elementary school site. The City of Novato provides an extended child care program as part of the summer school and summer enrichment program and also operates a year-round before- and after-school child care program at Lu Sutton School.
The Marin Child Care Planning Council is a Countywide advisory group that has developed a child care master plan, including a specific action plan and priorities for each city in the county. Privately-operated programs include family day care homes, which provide care, protection, and supervision of 12 or fewer children in the provider's own home for periods of less than 24 hours per day; and licensed child care centers (subsidized and non-subsidized), which are defined as any child day care facilities other than family day care homes. In addition, other privately-operated recreational and social programs sometimes function as informal child care. The Novato Youth Center also provides child supervision and before- and after-school programs for school-age children; see discussion under "Youth Services" below.
Care of Disabled People
The following organizations are examples of service groups that provide assistance to disabled people (see further discussion under "Senior Care" above):
Several privately-owned housing complexes in the Novato area accommodate the disabled through federal Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) assistance or accept Section 8 certificates; see discussion under "Senior Care" above.
The City of Novato has prepared and adopted a Transition Plan and a Self-Evaluation of services in compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). The City is implementing various service and capital improvement programs in conformance with the ADA.
Home Services
The following home utilities assistance programs are available in the Novato area:
Youth Services
The City of Novato Community Services Department provides diverse recreational, cultural, athletic, aquatic, and child care programs for children and teens. The Department also helps coordinate scheduling of public recreational facilities (parks, fields, gyms, multi-purpose rooms, etc.) for user groups and works directly with numerous non-profit and private recreational providers to coordinate services.
The Novato Youth Services Bureau, established by the City of Novato Police Department, acts as a liaison between the Police Department and other public and private youth-serving agencies and provides counseling services to clients on a referral basis. In recent years, the Bureau noted a dramatic increase in delinquent behavior by youth at younger ages, along with a growing demand for services for younger juveniles. Working with the Novato Youth Coalition, the Bureau determined that the lack of effective parenting skills is the basis for this problem, and has responded by increasing its counseling to very young juveniles as well as providing parent education classes.
The Novato Police Department also offers Drug Abuse Resistance Education (DARE), a program that assists students in recognizing and resisting pressures to experiment with drugs and alcohol. The program, which began in September of 1988, is a semester course given one day a week to fifth-grade students.
The Police Department maintains a staff of eight officers trained to conduct the program and, as of January 1991, graduated 2,062 students. The program is held at all Novato Unified School District elementary schools and at Our Lady of Loretto School.
The Novato Youth Center provides before- and after-school programs for school-age youth. Teen programs include volunteer opportunities, and recreation and educational activities to develop leadership skills and to provide meaningful alternatives for free time. Programs for all ages include tutoring for youths ages 6 to 18, counseling program with individual, family, and group counseling, and workshops for parents and teens; Playcare, a comprehensive day care program for children 4 years and 9 months to 13 years of age; and other classes and activities.
Social Service Programs
The Novato Human Needs Center, which serves North Marin, has become a major focal point for the delivery of health and human services. Agencies that provide services through the Center include the Community Health Center of Marin, Family Service Agency, Babysitting Co-op, Concerned Parents, Women-Infants and Children Nutritional Programs, Alcoholics Anonymous, and Al-Anon. The Center's programs include crisis help, employment services, transportation services, Second Center Thrift Shop, counseling, information and referral, emergency services, and outreach programs.
The County of Marin, in conjunction with the City of Novato, has located a homeless program at Hamilton Field during the winter season for the past two years. The Hamilton Army Airfield Reuse Plan, adopted October 1995, provides for a permanent Homeless Service Facility , Jobs Training Center, Transitional and support Housing Services as well as affordable ownership and rental units.
Medical Services
Novato Community Hospital is the only general (full service) hospital in the Novato area. The hospital has 62 beds available and licensing for 75 beds. The hospital, which provides in-patient and out-patient care, offers the services in the categories of surgery; laboratory; radiology, including ultrasound, mobile MRI, nuclear medicine and mammography; obstetrics/nursery; emergency; intensive/coronary; medical surgical; and pharmacy respiratory.
The hospital provides a 24-hour Emergency Department and ancillary services with the support of all board-certified emergency physicians and specially certified registered nurses. The hospital is the base station for the Novato Fire Protection District's paramedics and ambulances. The Emergency Department averages about 1,000 visits per month.
In addition to general hospital care, the Novato Community Hospital offers free telephone information and referral through the Sutter Health Information Center Physician Referral Service and Women's Health Line. Transportation to physician appointments and to the hospital is provided to seniors and the disabled through Health Express, a Novato-based van service offered through a contract with Whistlestop Wheels. The hospital also offers regular health education classes to the community as well as speakers on health topics to clubs and organizations.
The hospital itself does not have convalescent beds. The hospital's Discharge Planning staff regularly refer patients to convalescent facilities, including the 153-bed Pleasant Care Convalescent Hospital.
The hospital's physical plant is considered obsolete is and located far from Highway 101, the main transportation route through Marin County. The hospital has plans to relocate and build a new facility on a more visible and accessible site. The emphasis of the new hospital will be on expanding and improving out-patient services, rather than in-patient capacity, which would remain at 25 to 50 beds.
Other medical facilities in the Novato area include Kaiser Permanente Medical Offices, located at 97 San Marin Drive, and Novato Urgent Care Center, located at 1324 Grant Avenue. Both of these facilities offer out-patient services, only.
The Buck Center for Research in Aging (BCRA) is proposed to be located adjacent to the northern City limits, west of Highway 101. The project consists of a 35,000-square-foot laboratory and research facility and 130 units of housing for research assistants and other BCRA personnel.
Other County Programs
The Marin County Department of Health and Human Services provides social workers designated to assist county residents, regardless of income, in planning and reaching decisions about human service issues such as use of convalescent care. The Department also provides other services, such as a low-cost dental clinic for low-income Medi-Cal-eligible Marin County residents.
3. OBJECTIVES, POLICIES, AND PROGRAMS
| HS Objective 1 | Identify and promote human services sufficient to serve Novato's residents with special needs. |
HS Policy 1 Service Planning, Coordination, and Advertising. Assist in planning, coordinating, and advertising human service programs.
HS Program 1.1: Continue to participate in the coordination of human services offered by the City, the County of Marin, and private organizations.Responsibility: Community Services Department
HS Program 1.2: Provide space at City Hall and other key locations for a series of brochures describing human services (e.g., senior care facilities, child care facilities, youth programs, other programs) available in Novato, and distribute the brochure(s) to the public.
Responsibility: Community Services Department
HS Program 1.3: The Housing and Services Commission will advise the City Council on planning, coordinating, advertising, and prioritizing Novato's human services program.
Responsibility: Community Services Department
HS Program 1.4: Encourage development of programs to provide services to non-English speaking residents.
Responsibility: Community Services Department
| HS Objective 2 | Encourage a wide range of services for senior citizens, the disabled, the chronically ill, and others needing assisted care. |
HS Policy 2 Intermediate and In-Home Care. Help facilitate the provision of adequate, affordable intermediate care and in-home services for senior citizens and people with disabilities.
HS Program 2.1: Review the Zoning Ordinance to determine if regulations regarding community care homes, group homes, and other forms of housing appropriate for senior citizens and the disabled are appropriate.HS Program 2.2: Work with organizations representing senior citizens, the disabled, and other affected groups to identify suitable opportunities for community care homes, group homes, and other facilities for programs and services. Facilitate dissemination of information to organizations and the affected community regarding City processing requirements and foster awareness of organizational activities in the community.
Responsibility: Community Services Department
HS Program 2.3: Assist in developing a permit processing checklist that identifies City, County, and State regulatory and licensing requirements in order to assist persons and organizations interested in establishing community care homes or group homes in Novato.
Refer to Housing Chapter policies and programs that address housing for senior citizens and those with special needs.
HS Policy 3 Ambulatory Care (Day Care). Encourage the development of ambulatory care (day care) services for the chronically ill, mentally disadvantaged, and infirm elderly.
HS Program 3.1: Assist in developing a directory of ambulatory care (day care) services and provide referrals to agencies that provide this type of care.Responsibility: Community Services Department.
HS Program 3.2: Review the Zoning Ordinance to determine if regulations regarding ambulatory care (day care) facilities are appropriate.
HS Policy 4 Skilled Nursing Homes. Support the provision of skilled nursing homes and affordable assisted living care for those who cannot be served by day care and intermediate care facilities.
HS Program 4.1: Review the Zoning Ordinance to determine if regulations regarding skilled nursing homes and affordable assisted living care are appropriate.HS Program 4.2: Work with organizations representing senior citizens, the disabled, and other affected groups to identify suitable opportunities for skilled nursing homes and affordable assisted living care facilities.
Responsibility: Community Services Department
HS Program 4.3: Assist in developing a permit processing checklist that identifies City, County, and State regulatory and licensing requirements in order to assist persons and organizations interested in establishing skilled nursing homes and affordable assisted living care in Novato.
HS Program 4.4: Work toward providing affordable assisted living care.
Responsibility: Community Services Department
| HS Objective 3 | Promote provision of high quality and affordable child care facilities and services in Novato. |
HS Policy 5 Child Care. Support appropriate child care for all income levels for families in Novato, and assist in identifying and securing federal, state, and local resources for child care.
HS Program 5.1: Help monitor state and federal child care legislation, and support legislation that promotes affordable child care and funding for child care facilities and programs.Responsibility: Community Services Department
HS Program 5.2: Assist in identifying and securing public and private resources for affordable child care facilities and programs.
Responsibility: Community Services Department
HS Program 5.3: Determine the impact of commercial, industrial, and residential development on the demand for child care and consider appropriate mitigation measures to meet this demand.
HS Policy 6 Child Care Development Regulations. Ensure that child care facilities are sited and operated in a manner compatible with surrounding land uses. Allow family day care homes as permitted uses in all residential land use designations, and other child care facilities in any land use designation except where not appropriate for health and safety reasons.
HS Program 6.1: Periodically review the Zoning Ordinance and other local regulations affecting child care facilities to ensure that appropriate standards are in place.HS Program 6.2: For child care facilities serving 13 or more children, review siting through the environmental review and permitting processes.
HS Program 6.3: Investigate ways of "streamlining" the permit process for child care facilities.
HS Policy 7 City Policies and Programs. Maintain and develop the City's child care programs where feasible and appropriate.
HS Program 7.1: Continue to incorporate child care programs into City-sponsored recreation activities wherever feasible and appropriate.Responsibility: Community Services Department
HS Program 7.2: Continue to work with the Novato Unified School District to provide child care programs at school sites and to respond to the needs of private providers and the community.
Responsibility: Community Services Department
| HS Objective 4 | Provide services and programs addressing the recreational, social, cultural, and other similar needs of Novato's youth. |
HS Policy 8 Social and Recreational Services. Maintain and expand social services and recreation programs for Novato's youth.
HS Program 8.1: Assist in coordinating and encouraging youth recreation, counseling, and social programs offered by public, private and non-profit organizations.Responsibility: Community Services Department
HS Program 8.2: Continue to provide services, including juvenile counseling and parent education classes, as appropriate, such as through the Novato Youth Services Bureau. Periodically review the programs with public and private youth-serving agencies to determine areas that should be revised or improved.
Responsibility: Community Services Department and Police Department
HS Program 8.3: Continue to support, assist, and provide substance abuse programs.
Responsibility: Community Services Department and Police Department
| HS Objective 5 | Support health care services that meet the needs of Novato. |
HS Policy 9 Health Services. Consider Novato's needs in the review of proposals for new health care facilities, giving particular attention to those with special needs.
HS Program 9.1: Coordinate with public and private health care agencies to determine Novato's health care needs.HS Program 9.2: Consider public transit and roadway access as factors in decisions involving the location of new health care facilities.
HS Program 9.3: Encourage the hospital's continued support of the community's emergency plan.
Responsibility: Community Development Department, Community Services Department, and Police Department
HS Policy 10 Community Partnership Program.
HS Program 10.1: Develop and implement a plan for a future program.HS Program 10.2: Identify funding sources for implementing the plan as part of the plan preparation.
Responsibility: Community Services Department
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