Innovations through Partnerships in Recovery: A Case Study of Public Health Management Corporation and Interim House

Abstract

The city of Philadelphia faces dire straits. Nationwide and specifically in the state of Pennsylvania, social services and assistance programs designed to bolster those battling substance use disorders are being slashed. Juxtapose these facts with a city that is infested with open-air drug markets and widespread poverty. With 33 percent of the women of Philadelphia living under the poverty level, finding adequate resources to serve their varied needs is a difficult task. In 1989, Interim House Inc. (IHI) and Public Health Management Corporation (PHMC) came together in what was then and is still today considered an innovative way to partner through affiliating to  operate the oldest women-only substance abuse treatment center in Pennsylvania and one of the first on the East Coast. More than a decade later,  this partnership has helped create an innovative program that has been recognized, around the city and the country, as a leader and model for trauma-informed, gender-specific addiction treatment. Based on conversations with Kathy Wellbank, the director of the program, the success of the program has been attributed to the affiliation with PHMC. This affiliation has provided her the time to create a vision and the tools to implement, manage and grow the program. She attests that without the support and expertise of the PHMC team, she would be bogged down completing tedious reports and writing grants that would take her away from ability to keep her pulse on the program’s changing needs and create programs to meet these needs. She expressed much enthusiasm over the importance of PHMC staff mirroring the philosophy and leadership traits of the director in making the partnership so successful. She owes her ability to thrive in this leadership role to the talent and expertise of PHMC, who also demonstrate positive leadership qualities such as integrity, dedication, creativity, fairness, openness, humility and a sense of humor. She particularly emphasized the importance of trust, collective talent/teamwork, compassion, stability and relationships in her interactions with PHMC. Without trust and the excellent working relationships with PHMC, the affiliation would not be successful. The program director emphasized that effective leaders, like those at PHMC, are able to surround themselves with the right people who not only have the education and skills to perform their jobs but possess the emotional intelligence to work well with and adjust to the varying personalities and changing conditions they will encounter.

PHMC plays a critical role in the areas of strategic planning, board development, fundraising, contract monitoring, human resources, fiscal, billing and accounting management, information technology and grant writing. The ability to be part of a corporation that provides public health services to various populations has also helped create a synergy for sharing information and learning from the expertise of others in similar management positions.
PHMC is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization whose mission and business model is to bring together like-minded nonprofit organizations under one parent company to collaborate with and benefit from economies of scale, sharing of information and pooling of expertise. PHMC currently runs more than 250 programs providing direct resources and care to thousands of individuals and communities across the Philadelphia metro area. PHMC and its affiliates provide behavioral health services, criminal justice services, recovery housing, emergency assistance, family services and HIV and obesity prevention and run health care clinics. PHMC also provides direct services to several marginalized and at-risk populations such as people with HIV/AIDS, welfare recipients, children with intellectual disabilities and the homeless. Their innovative affiliation model has allowed them to create a nonprofit health system with far-reaching scope.

As with many of PHMC’s affiliate organizations, Interim House has grown and flourished with the assistance of PHMC since its affiliation in 1989. Interim House provides first-rate clinical services to the low-income underinsured/uninsured recovering women in Philadelphia and several other counties in PA. Insight into the affiliation model is exemplified in a case study of Interim House and in the story of Virginia, an alumna of this historic program.