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
-
One UFO researcher called Big Tujunga Canyon a “window area” for paranormal encounters. -
As the Nov. 5 election draws closer, many of us have yet to vote and are looking for some help. We hope you start with our Voter Game Plan. Since we don't do endorsements, we've also put together a list of other popular voting guides across the political spectrum. -
A collaboration devised as part of Getty's PST ART taught students about environmental issues from the perspective of communities across the Americas. -
After his debut at 19 in Major League Baseball, Fernandomania swept L.A. and the nation. -
Federal prosecutors say the longtime O.C. supervisor has agreed to plead guilty and resign in a conspiracy to steal millions of dollars meant to feed needy seniors, following a months-long LAist investigation and federal probe. -
O.C. Supervisor Andrew Do told a mental health nonprofit based in Irvine to hire the woman, according to multiple people briefed on the contract.
Best of LAist
