Training guide designed to educate the next generation of homeless healthcare providers
By Sam Catanzaro
The Venice Family Clinic has launched a training guide designed to “educate the next generation of homeless healthcare providers”.
The nonprofit community health center, which provides primary care to 45,000 people in LA County, announced the launch of its street medicine program on Monday.
“The Venice Family Clinic was the first community health center in LA County to send health care providers to the streets to provide care for homeless people. Since that beginning in 1985, the Clinic has created a program of street medicine which has grown to nine teams with eleven health care providers,” the Venice Family Clinic said in a press release announcing the program. “Venice Family Clinic’s leadership in health care for the sans -shelter led United Way of Greater Los Angeles to provide the funding to develop the Street Medicine Program, which provides students and practitioners with clinical and social tools to address the complex challenges faced by homeless people.
The program provides integrated guidelines for street medicine with best practices in social care. It details how to approach people on the streets and deal with the variety of issues they may have, including trauma, substance use disorders and mental illness. The program also outlines how health care providers can work with other agencies that provide homeless services to ensure patients have access to housing, transportation and other services. The Centraide grant also made it possible to finance the construction of a training structure for medical students and residents.
“In developing the Street Medicine program, our goal is to build a competent and caring community so that together we can ensure that all of our neighbors in need can be healthy and housed,” said Dr Coley M. King, director of the Venice Family Clinic. health care services for the homeless. “Homeless people face enormous health challenges and place a heavy burden on our health care system. Our challenge is to do everything we can to locate these homeless people, meet their survival needs and provide quality healthcare to everyone.
The Venice Family Clinic makes the street medicine program available in line and through printed materials to health care providers, educators, and students.
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