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 at the heart of Student Run Clinic Symposium
On a rainy Saturday morning, students gathered at the Health Science Campus for the annual Student Run Clinic Symposium. This year the focus being interdisciplinary care for those facing homelessness. The crowd included students from various disciplines which included medicine, occupational therapy, pharmacy and PA.
The morning kicked off with an address from Brett Feldman, MSPAS, PA-C, who did a digital keynote address. In an effort to visualize what the new Street Medicine team does, the group viewed the PBS special “Close to Home Street Medicine”(which was up for and won an Emmy the same day as the Symposium). He also answered questions submitted by attendees prior to the event. In the end he encouraged students to come together and speak up about how they want to be involved in street medicine at USC.
Following this presentation, the group was able to hear from Corinne Garcia, a woman who previously faced homeless on Skid Row. Describing her time on the streets as a rat nest, she expressed how important human contact was to her experience and the emotional barriers to getting health care on the street.
“Sometimes we are processing our own self-shame,” said Garcia. “I can’t see my primary, so I see my drug dealer. That’s what I really want. In the end, you can only meet people where they are at.”
Other speakers included Carrie Kowolski, MPAPA, PA-C, an alumnus of the PA program, who now works with the Venice Family Clinic on their street medicine team.
Later students participated in workshops and came together on interprofessional teams to dive into a case study.