California: Teen Outreach Mobile Clinic Helps Youth Find a Permanent Medical Home

Family Health Centers of San Diego provides outreach to homeless, runaway, and at-risk youths in central San Diego. Fourteen years ago, FHCSD launched its Teen Outreach Mobile Clinic, which offers individuals ages 12-24 HIV/STI screening and primary, acute, and preventive care services. One of the mobile clinic's main objectives is linking these youths to a permanent medical home.

Mobile clinic testing counselors and physicians from the University of California-San Diego Medical Center typically serve 15-35 youths at each stop. An increase in demand has led FHCSD to expand the program: The vehicle now rotates among three different locations in the city, three nights a week for four hours each session.

FHCSD is one of 13 recent beneficiaries of AIDS Walk & Run San Diego. The city's largest single-day HIV/AIDS fundraiser enables the distribution of more than $500,000 in grants to local service organizations. This year's AIDS Walk & Run will be held Sept. 25 in Balboa Park.

For more information about FHCSD, visit www.fhcsd.org/. For Walk & Run information and registration, visit www.aidswalksd.org/.

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