The Los Angeles County Department of Mental Health launched an initiative that brings mental health resources to the city's homeless population, the Los Angeles Times reported Sept. 7.
"I would argue that few populations bear greater psychological burden than homeless people yet given the magnitude, there are very few resources for treating them," Katherine Koh, MD, a physician at Boston-based Mass General Hospital and "street psychiatrist" in the city, told the publication.
The Homeless Outreach and Mobile Engagement program in Los Angeles County was founded in 2019 and has a team of four psychiatrists and two psychiatric nurse practitioners led by Shayan Rab, MD, according to the report.
Dr. Rab and his team conduct medical screenings, guide medication management, facilitate prescription filling and coordinate placement into long-term care facilities for their patients.
"You are seeing two different versions of the patient," Dr. Rabt told the newspaper. "When we work with an individual on the street, we see how an individual is living in the community, what the realities of their environment are like."