Mona Shams

Mona Shams

Mona Shams is a Public Health Nurse II at the Human Services Department, where she serves in the units of Adult Protective Services, In-Home Support Services, and Long Term Care Management. Mona is steadfast in her commitment to providing care to some of the County's most vulnerable, and she has participated directly in preventing countless individuals from becoming homeless and/or hospitalized. A perfect example of Mona’s impact on a client happened recently when an elderly LGBTQ+ couple living alone had become unable to care for themselves and each other leading one of them to becoming hospitalized and then receiving a permanent placement in a Skilled Nursing Facility. The subpar conditions of the Skilled Nursing Facility resulted in the individual rapidly declining, and upon learning this, Mona tirelessly advocated with management for better care. When Mona’s direct advocacy with the facility was unsuccessful, Mona submitted a complaint to the State, and she worked directly with hospice to ensure this client had the best care possible. After the State performed an investigation the facility changed direction and the client improved with better care, but unfortunately, at the same time his partner was hospitalized and could not return home. Mona advocated for the partner to be placed in the same facility as his husband, as this was his greatest wish, and through Mona's dedication, support, and advocacy this couple were able to be together again at the end of life.

Mona has halted client decline and disease progression through advocacy and healthcare coordination, and for the County's most vulnerable and invisible, she has been a lifesaver.

Gabriel Moore

Gabriel Moore

Gabriel Moore is an In-Home Support Services (IHSS) Quality Assurance Specialist at the Human Services Department and it is his job to assess and improve the quality and efficiency of IHSS. Gabriel has always gone above and beyond in providing resources or lending a hand to IHSS clients, as well as coaching and supporting staff in improvement efforts. Recently, Gabriel went the extra mile for an IHSS recipient and was able to resolve a critical need for her. As part of the normal course of his work, Gabriel learned that the recipient had been unable to get her electric wheelchair fixed for a few months, which resulted in her not being able to leave the house. Gabriel could have simply passed on the information to the program staff, but knowing how short-staffed they were, he took it upon himself to contact the agencies responsible for repairing the chair, and, as a result, the recipient was back in her chair within a couple of weeks. Gabriel’s compassion and devotion to help the populations that IHSS serves is commendable and he is genuinely making a difference in the lives of our community members.

The Business Analytics Unit of the Human Services Department

Senior Human Services Analyst Casey Coneway and IT Application Development and Support Analyst II Andy Yeung

Andy Yeung, Casey Coneway

At the Human Services Department, the In-Home Supportive Services (IHSS) and Adult Protective Services (APS) programs are required to contact their clients in times of emergency to determine if the clients need assistance. During the CZU Fires IHSS and APS found that identifying clients that lived in evacuation areas was difficult as well as time-consuming, and the Business Analytics Unit stepped in to find a solution to this problem. Andy and Casey worked with IHSS and APS staff to understand these challenges and collaborated with IT GIS staff to help develop mapping, which they used to create an automated map in Power BI that takes client addresses and vulnerability information, as well as Zone Haven data, and combines them into a report that staff can access at any time to identify clients that need contacting. These essential reports allow staff to filter clients by vulnerability, location, and other variables to create an exportable list for contacting clients, which was extremely useful during the Winter Storms in 2023 and allowed staff to more efficiently prioritize which clients to contact and assist. Andy and Casey’s innovative and diligent efforts have resulted in the development of a tool that will help to safeguard and protect some of our most vulnerable community members, and we are grateful for this contribution to our emergency response resources.