The Desert Healthcare District and Foundation has awarded a $54,000 grant to the CSUSB Palm Desert Campus Nursing Street Medicine program to continue its efforts providing free healthcare services in the Coachella Valley.

The Nursing Street Medicine program increases access to healthcare by serving the sheltered, unsheltered, and other vulnerable populations in the Coachella Valley through nurse clinics and other outreach programs with the goal of improving the well-being of people, providing preventive services, treating chronic diseases/medication management, and offering foot soaks, in addition to making referrals for follow-up care. With access to the nurse clinics, the program aims to decrease emergency room visits and the impact to acute care facilities.

The Nursing Street Medicine team delivers a valuable service at no cost to those most economically in need of basic necessities. They also increase the number of registered nurses in the valley who have experience engaging vulnerable populations. As collaborative partners in the community, the Department of Nursing at the CSUSB Palm Desert Campus is creating and contributing to an educated healthcare workforce.

The Nursing Street Medicine program holds nurse clinics at shelters and free food program locations, homeless encampments and at cooling/warming centers.

Diane Vines, the program director, says, “The opportunity for students to interact with and serve homeless people in the Coachella Valley prepares them to empathize with the most underserved and vulnerable people in the valley.”

“What the Cal State street medicine program has done and continues to do is help to ensure all Coachella Valley residents have access to healthcare,” said Conrado Bárzaga, Desert Healthcare District and Foundation CEO. “Through their outreach to the homeless and other disenfranchised communities, these nursing students are removing the transportation barrier and addressing other social determinants of health, which are an important part of the Desert Healthcare District and Foundation’s vision for the future.”  

For more information about the CSUSB Nursing Street Medicine program, contact Diane Vines at Diane.Vines@csusb.edu.

Also, visit the Desert Healthcare District and Foundation website for more information on its programs. 

For more information about the CSUSB Palm Desert Campus, contact Mike Singer in the Office of Strategic Communication at msinger@csusb.edu or (760) 341-2883, ext. 78107, or visit the PDC website at www.csusb.edu/pdc.