The Mobile Clinic Project at UCLA was born in response to the West Hollywood homeless population’s need for healthcare. The Greater West Hollywood Food Coalition (GWHFC) is a volunteer organization that serves food to the homeless and transient population in West Hollywood each week. Directors of GWHFC contacted advisors from the UCLA School of Public Health in 1999 as they noticed their clients w
ere in desperate need of health care. Two students were sent out to conduct a needs assessment at the GWHFC and reported back that the population did in fact have a multitude of health needs, but faced various barriers to health care. A larger group of public health students immediately became interested in reaching out to this population and recruited medical and undergraduate students to assist with more formative research research, planning and implementation of an outreach program. The Mobile Clinic Project was launched two years later in 2002 and has remained a long‐term effort to make services available to individuals on a regular basis. Through the commitment and determination of public health, undergraduate, medical and law students, as well as the dedicated support of faculty, MCP has served the West Hollywood population along side the GWHFC for over 10 years. We have also increased our capabilities (over the years our medications, referrals and other services have paralleled our growing student involvement), and currently run 3 other clinics at different locations in Santa Monica.
