Ritter Center, CAM, & SPAHR Join Forces to Provide Expanded Street Medicine program
In 2021 Ritter Center’s launched its Medical Outreach Team bringing medical care to underserved and unserved individuals throughout Marin County, via our street medicine van. The team includes a medical provider, patient navigator/medical assistant and benefits specialist.
Thanks to a new collaborative grant awarded by Marin Health & Human Services (MHHS), Ritter Center will be working in partnership with Community Action Marin (CAM) and SPAHR Center to provide expanded Street Medicine and Integrated Behavioral Health care services for People Experiencing Homelessness. Starting in December 2022, the collaborative street medicine team, now called the Health & Wellness Outreach Team, will be providing services 3 days a week in year one, then 4 days a week in year two, and 5 days a week in year three. Also, this grant fully funds our Medical Staff and adds a Licensed Behavioral Health Clinician, A Peer Outreach Navigator with Lived Experience (Community Action Marin) and a Harm Reduction Navigator (SPAHR).
The partnership between these three organizations enables many aspects of health care in the field: harm reduction tools; Overdose Prevention; and personal hygiene items.
“This new grant makes our already robust partnership even stronger. Working in tandem, we can provide medical services, social service housing referrals and evaluation tools that case managers use for social determinants of health and information about a client to get a full background to provide the best possible services that they can,” said Sehrish Khan, Clinical Compliance Director.
“We can also provide behavioral health whole person care to address health inequities and increase the quality of care throughout the community by increasing access to more treatments and services,” said Rachelle Valenzuela, Health Clinic Manager.
