UC Riverside will open clinic for the homeless
The site, which is set to start service in January, could see up to 4,800 patients a year
A new medical clinic, run by students and professionals from UC Riverside’s School of Medicine, will soon be serving Riverside’s homeless population.
UC Riverside received a $600,000 grant from the UniHealth Foundation and other funding through the city to reopen a medical clinic for the homeless at 2880 Hulen Place, a university news release states. The clinic, set to open in January 2023, is near several homeless shelters and supportive housing programs and is a couple miles from downtown Riverside.
The Hulen Place Clinic will be part of the Riverside Access Center and replace an old medical clinic managed by the nonprofit Health to Hope, which went bankrupt in 2019.
“It’s not a shelter, respite or bridge housing, or a behavioral health center,” said Don Larsen, CEO of UCR Health, the clinical arm of the School of Medicine. “Hulen Place Clinic addresses the primary care needs of this population, initially within this small community of shelters that have popped up in Riverside. It lowers a barrier of entry to care, and fulfills an important need in the community: healthcare.”
The 2500-square-foot clinic will include two exam rooms, a special room for minor procedures such as skin lacerations and an urgent care. The clinic is not meant for emergency services, officials said. The exact hours are being determined, but officials anticipate being open weekdays, with appointments and walkin service available.
The clinic’s location was intentional, city officials said.
The clinic will be on the same block — known as the Homeless Service Campus on Hulen Place — as the Path of Life Ministries homeless shelter, a mental health supportive housing unit, supportive housing and other services.
Leonard R. Jarman, Path of Life Ministries’ chief solutions officer, said Hulen Place will be “the first medical clinic of its kind” since Health to Hope closed. Path of Life started a mobile medical clinic in 2011 for those in its shelter, which later expanded into the building on Hulen Place until it stopped operating in 2019.
“(The clinic) will provide vital medical services to one of the most vulnerable populations. It will help the community and the local homeless services providers by giving unhoused individuals and families more convenient access to health care,” Jarman said by email. “It is also much more cost-effective to serve the unhoused population in community-based clinics, rather than the ER.”
Riverside is home to about 20% of Riverside County’s homeless population, city data show, including 514 unsheltered individuals as of the county’s most recent point-in
time count. The clinic is expected to serve up to 4,800 patients a year, including 1,300 who are chronically homeless, UCR officials said.
Homeless people experience high rates of health problems that include HIV infections, tuberculosis, cancer, alcohol and drug abuse, UCR Health officials said.
The clinic will target underserved homeless children and adults who need preventive care, plus those with chronic health conditions such as asthma, diabetes, heart disease, obesity and mental health disorders. It will serve all ages, from pediatric to geriatric groups.
The city of Riverside provided a $567,228 federal community development block grant toward renovations of the space and reduced the rent. City officials said they want to see a “successful holistic care approach” to homelessness, that combines the need for medical services, employment assistance, education and housing programs.
In a statement, Riverside Mayor Patricia Lock Dawson said the city “welcomes partnerships such as this” with UC Riverside, homeless shelters and others.
“This new medical clinic will add to a holistic care approach which integrates, primary care, mental health, shelter, employment assistance, life skills education and housing connections,” Lock Dawson said.
The university plans to employ its medical students, residents and faculty on a rotation at the clinic, officials said. Primary care doctors, nurse practitioners and the clinic medical team will collaborate with shelters, health and housing agencies to identify patients’ needs.
“We provide care, but we also teach, which is one of our major missions, to train future physicians in the Inland Empire,” Larsen said.
Dr. Takashi Wada, chief medical officer of Inland Empire Health Plan, said the insurance agency is “excited” to partner with UC Riverside through funding and “enhanced” care management services for its members.
“It is very difficult to improve health outcomes when our members face challenges with these basic needs, so addressing housing and homelessness is a high priority,” Wada said. “Hulen Place is wellpositioned to function as a sort of centralized homeless navigation center with multiple community-based organizations and services supporting this vulnerable population.”