Health care providers are taking to the streets of Garden Grove armed with a “doctor’s office on wheels” to bring medical assistance to homeless people where they are at – including primary care, but also behavioral health services and case management.
The street medicine program is being organized by the county’s provider of publicly funded health coverage, CalOptima Health, in partnership with the city of Garden Grove and Healthcare in Action, a medical group that provides health care and other services to unhoused individuals. Through a $4 million, two-year contract, Healthcare in Action will deliver care to up to 200 CalOptima members using a medical van to reach those living in parks, under freeways and elsewhere on the streets.
“This program focused on bringing supportive health care and social services for our homeless community is a model of dedicated teamwork, outside-the-box thinking and passion for serving those in need,” Garden Grove Mayor Steve Jones said during a press conference on Tuesday.
Along with being mobile, the program uses a “people-centric” approach, said Benjamin Kaska, Healthcare in Action’s director of clinical operations.
“There’s a barrier to care,” Kaska said for people who are dealing with homelessness. “When you go to a doctor’s office, you’re expected to arrive on time, have all your paperwork organized, I.D., your payment. In this environment, you remove those barriers. We come out and provide the care directly to them, wherever they’re located.”
A large percentage of folks experiencing homelessness are in “survival mode,” prioritizing where their next meal will come from, where they will sleep and taking care of their belongings, said Kelly Bruno-Nelson, CalOptima’s executive director of Medi-Cal/CalAIM.
“Clearly, health care needs come secondary to that,” Bruno-Nelson said. “It’s not that folks on the street don’t care about their health, it’s that they can’t…
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