Community Through Hope launched a medical team program that reaches out to homeless people in Chula Vista to bring help and hope.
Sebastián Martínez, the organization's co-founder, told Chula Vista Today that he was inspired by fellowship courses that members of the group took at the University of California at Berkeley (UCB) and implemented on the streets of Chula Vista.
"We were seeing homeless deaths increase in Chula Vista and South Bay; we decided that what we learned in Berkeley could help us," said Martínez, executive director of the organization and son of the founder, Rosy Vásquez.
The organization secured a grant from the American Medical Resources Foundation and formed teams of volunteers.
"Groups of four to eight people go to the homeless camps to talk with them, they bring them personal hygiene items, food, treat wounds if they have them, do medical checkups," Sebastián said.
Martínez explained it is difficult to have a census of homeless people because it is a community on the move.
"Since last October, we have had more than 800 encounters" of the medical team with groups of homeless people in camps and with people who prefer to be alone on the streets.
The group's help is very diverse and according to the needs of the people, but in all cases, they consider medical assistance.
People who wish to collaborate or help the Community Through Hope project can contact the team by email at the portal https://communitythroughhope.org.
