The CalOptima Health Board of Directors has approved spending $18.5 million to acquire, renovate and open a 52-room Street Medicine Support Center in Garden Grove. The center is part of a strategy to address health issues among the homeless, and will house individuals, mainly older adults, who qualify and are referred by CalOptima’s Street Medicine clinical team.
The first-of-its-kind support center is an extension of the Street Medicine Program launched by CalOptima on April 1, 2023, in partnership with the City of Garden Grove and Healthcare in Action, an organization of the SCAN Group.
Using a medical van equipped with state-of-the-art technology and similar capabilities to a brick-and-mortar clinic, Healthcare in Action’s interdisciplinary teams canvas the Garden Grove community and reach members living in parks, under freeways and other unsheltered spaces. Services include health care, behavioral health, substance use treatment and case management, along with expanded whole-person care resources available through CalAIM, a statewide initiative offering new Medi-Cal benefits, including housing services.
“The goal of our Street Medicine Program is to reduce barriers to quality medical care for CalOptima Health members who are unhoused,” said Kelly Bruno-Nelson, CalOptima Health’s Executive Director of Medi-Cal/CalAIM. “The support center is an innovative next step toward that goal because we recognize that it is ultimately impossible to be healthy on the street.”
Once completed, the Street Medicine Support Center will feature 52 private rooms with a kitchenette and bathroom, shared laundry facilities, staff administrative offices, and outdoor open space. Members using the facility will receive three meals a day and benefit from 24/7 on-site security. Older adults, families and veterans already participating in CalOptima Health’s Street Medicine Program will receive priority placement in the new facility. The target date for opening the center is spring 2025.
These funds are in addition to $8 million allocated by the Board in 2022 for homeless health initiatives that ultimately launched the Street Medicine Program. As Orange County’s Medi-Cal plan serving low-income populations, CalOptima Health is dedicating these funds based on the recognition that housing is health.
Since launching its partnership with CalOptima Health in Garden Grove five months ago, Healthcare in Action has seen approximately 200 individuals experiencing homelessness and has enrolled nearly 100 participants. In addition to receiving basic medical care, dozens of individuals have been evaluated or treated for substance use disorder, opioid use disorder or mental illness.
“Healthcare in Action provides a space for our patients to feel safe, cared for, and above all else, valued,” said Ben Kaska, Healthcare in Action’s Regional Director of Clinical Operations. “We are honored to be able to work with CalOptima Health to expand street medicine with this new support center, which will only add to our ability to provide comprehensive services to the unhoused living in Garden Grove.”
