Audrey is an older woman living in a tent in rural Redding, California. She is hypoglycemic and hasn’t had a glucose test in years. Now she is suffering from a medical condition that is common among elderly women – incontinence. Unlike other women, Audrey doesn’t have the resources to prevent accidents and wakes up soaked in urine every morning. She doesn’t have the money to clean up her tent, her clothes, or her blankets. It’s already difficult living out your senior years as homeless; people shouldn’t suffer like this, without access to medical attention. Homelessness in California has been on the rise for the last several years, leading to an increased need for medical attention for those experiencing homelessness. Thankfully, organizations like Shasta Community Health Center are meeting that need with their HOPE Program and its Medical Director, Dr. Kyle Patton. Through this program, street medicine is being used to bring medical attention directly to people where they are—on the streets. Homelessness can be a harrowing experience that leaves people vulnerable and without access to basic healthcare. Street Medicine is an innovative approach to providing medical care in unconventional places, like the woods and under bridges, where homeless individuals have no other options. In this four-part series, Brett Feldman, Director of Keck Street Medicine at the University of Southern California, introduces us to four Street Medicine programs that deliver healthcare in the woods, under the bridges, behind dumpsters, and wherever else people who are experiencing homelessness are living. Today, join us as we join Dr. Kyle Patton in Redding, California – the most rural area of the four communities we visited. This video series is brought to you by the Invisible People and the California Health Care Foundation to augment street medicine research in California. Please visit https://chcf.org/streetmedicine for more information and to sign up for CHCF’s newsletter to be notified when the research is released. About the California Health Care Foundation The California Health Care Foundation is dedicated to advancing meaningful, measurable improvements in the way the health care delivery system provides care to the people of California, particularly those with low incomes and those whose needs are not well served by the status quo. We work to ensure that people have access to the care they need, when they need it, at a price they can afford.
More street medicine teams tackle the homeless health care crisis
Originally published on CalMatters Dec. 8, 2022
Living on the streets of California is a deadly affair. The life expectancy of an unsheltered person is 50, according to national estimates, nearly 30 years less than that of the average Californian. As homelessness spirals out of control throughout the state, so too do deaths on the street, but it’s those whose lives are the most fragile who are least likely to get medical care.
Now, the state Medi-Cal agency is endeavoring to improve health care access for people experiencing homelessness. Through a series of incentives and regulatory changes, the Health Care Services Department is encouraging Medi-Cal insurers to fund and partner with organizations that bring primary care into encampments.
They’re known as street medicine teams. There are at least 25 in California.
“Oh crap. This is where she was, and they just swept that,” said Brett Feldman on a Friday morning in November, looking at a green tent, crumpled and abandoned on Skid Row in Los Angeles. Feldman, a physician assistant, is searching for a female patient in her 40s with severe and unmanaged asthma. She cycles predictably in and out of the hospital, and Feldman knows she’s due for another hospitalization soon.
Go to the site to read more: https://calmatters.org/health/2022/12/homeless-health-care/?fbclid=IwAR3bpEwBmUMNV9jT7P1BZbgms9AV-iDxGryY5ws6UJO76ZV8SH5PaOvWMOs&fs=e&s=cl
Street Medicine: Caring for the Homeless with Radical Humility | Brett Feldman | TEDxGrandPark
“Homelessness is certainly not just houselessness”. Brett Feldman reveals his radical approach to caring for our homeless neighbors as the Director of Street Medicine at USC Keck School of Medicine in Los Angeles, CA. In this talk, Brett shares his story about bringing a Street Medicine program to Los Angeles after founding and directing a successful program in Pennsylvania for over a decade. His remarkably humble, compassionate, and consistent approach to caring for patients on the streets fosters extraordinary trust and camaraderie, which in turn renders extraordinary results in patient outcomes. A PBS documentary featuring Brett and the street medicine program which he founded, Close to Home: Street Medicine, won an Emmy award in 2018. His work has been featured on the BBC, Washington Post, CNN, the Associated Press, and Telemundo. Brett J. Feldman, MSPAS, PA-C, is the Director of Street Medicine at the Keck School of Medicine (KSOM) of USC and serves as the Vice-Chair of the International Street Medicine Institute. He has practiced homeless medicine since 2007 and founded three programs including the DeSales University Free Clinic, Lehigh Valley Health Network (LVHN) Street Medicine in Allentown, PA, and the KSOM of USC Street Medicine in Los Angeles, CA. In 2017, Mr. Feldman and LVHN hosted the 13th Annual International Street Medicine Symposium in Allentown, PA. He is a winner of the Pennsylvania Society of Physician Assistants Humanitarian of the Year Award, Penn State University Alumni Service Award, and the Lehigh Valley Healthcare Hero Award. Brett J. Feldman, MSPAS, PA-C, is the Director of Street Medicine at the Keck School of Medicine (KSOM) of USC and serves as the Vice Chair of the International Street Medicine Institute. He has practiced homeless medicine since 2007 and founded three programs including the DeSales University Free Clinic, Lehigh Valley Health Network (LVHN) Street Medicine in Allentown, PA, and the KSOM of USC Street Medicine in Los Angeles, CA. In 2017, Mr. Feldman and LVHN hosted the 13th Annual International Street Medicine Symposium in Allentown, PA. He is a winner of the Pennsylvania Society of Physician Assistants Humanitarian of the Year Award, Penn State University Alumni Service Award and the Lehigh Valley Healthcare Hero Award. His work has been featured in the BBC, Washington Post, CNN, the Associated Press and Telemundo. A PBS documentary featuring Brett and the street medicine program which he founded, Close to Home: Street Medicine, won an Emmy award in 2018. This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at https://www.ted.com/tedx
Los Angeles Times features USC Street Medicine
This month the USC Street Medicine team was featured in an article that was printed on the front of the California section of the Sunday Los Angeles Times.
Please read it here: http://bit.ly/LATimesUSCStreetMed