With our free press under threat and federal funding for public media gone, your support matters more than ever. Help keep the LAist newsroom strong, become a monthly member or increase your support today.
Costa Mesa launches street medicine program
The Costa Mesa Civic Center skyline.
(
MattGush/iStock
/
iStockphoto
)
Topline:
Costa Mesa is launching its first street medicine program, which aims to treat the medical needs of unhoused people by meeting them where they are.
Why it matters: Officials said they had identified 150 unhoused people living in Costa Mesa who could benefit from the street medicine program, which will be run by CalOptima Health and local nonprofit Celebrating Life.
“The goal is to get people housed, but along the way, to take care of their significant health needs,” Orange County Supervisor Katrina Foley said at a news conference this week.
Sponsored message
The context: Orange County’s latest homelessness count found the unhoused population rose 28% since the last count in 2022.
The backstory: A representative with CalOptima Health said a similar program that launched about a year-and-a-half ago in nearby Garden Grove had served some 315 unhoused people, with 12 finding permanent housing.
The Costa Mesa street medicine program, which launches this month, will be the second such program offering medical care to unhoused people in Orange County.
In a report published last year, researchers from the Keck School of Medicine identified 25 street medicine programs across California. The majority of those programs were located in Los Angeles County and the San Francisco Bay Area.
Go deeper: Homelessness In OC
Trending on LAist
-
Rob Caves and his partner's Christmas Tree Lane home survived the Eaton Fire, like the majority of houses on his block. But with ash in the air and no drinkable water, few of his neighbors have returned. -
The house was listed for $450,000. Its listing agent expects escrow to close early next week. -
The Trump administration says it has already arrested thousands of immigrants in the U.S. without legal status, many without criminal records. -
Reopening of the Palisades was scheduled for 8 a.m. Sunday. But on Saturday night, L.A. Mayor Karen Bass said checkpoints will remain in place, after she secured additional law enforcement resources from Gov. Gavin Newsom. -
Museums in New York and Chicago want to hear what worked and what didn’t at the Getty Villa. -
Some California State Universities are reminding staff of policies in place to refer any questions from immigration agents to campus police.
Best of LAist
