Nursing Street Medicine Program Receives Grant

CSUSB Palm Desert Campus Nursing Street Medicine program receives grant from Houston Family Foundation

PALM DESERT – The Houston Family Foundation has awarded a $75,000 grant to the Nursing Street Medicine program at Cal State San Bernardino’s Palm Desert Campus.

The funding will allow the program to continue providing free healthcare services to unsheltered, sheltered and vulnerable populations in the Coachella Valley, and in partnership with other organizations, add behavioral health assessments, testing and medication administration to their list of services.

CSUSB Palm Desert Campus nursing students and faculty, led by Department of Nursing instructor Diane Vines, deliver many important services to members of the community, including wound care, foot soaks, triage, health assessments, checking vital signs and blood glucose levels, medications management, and preventative healthcare and education, among others.

The Houston Family Foundation funding will support behavioral health by utilizing telehealth technologies at nurse clinics throughout the area. Nursing students, under faculty supervision, will assist with the assessment and testing in the field and help with the approval process for clients with disability for mental health disorders. Clients will be connected to a prescriber who will order medications to be dispensed by the nursing students and faculty members.

CSUSB students gain valuable experience assisting with the assessment and testing in the field and services offered would increase approvals for clients with disability for mental health disorders.

“We are so honored to be chosen by the Houston Family Foundation to expand behavioral health services in the Coachella Valley, working with the Desert Healthcare District, the Coachella Valley Association of Governments, the Coachella Valley Volunteers in Medicine and other organizations,” said Vines. “We will educate our future Valley nurses on how to work with these vulnerable populations with empathy and skill.”

The Nursing Street Medicine program increases access to healthcare 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, 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 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.

Nurse clinics are held at shelters, free food program locations, homeless encampments and at cooling/warming centers.

Contact Diane Vines at diane.vines@csusb.edu for more information about the CSUSB Nursing Street Medicine program.

To learn more about the Houston Family Foundation, click here.