About
MISSION
Sacramento Street Medicine was created to provide high-quality, patient-led medical care for people experiencing homelessness (PEH). We meet the needs of the people we serve where they are – on the streets and encampments throughout Sacramento.
VISION
We believe healthcare and housing are human rights. By utilizing our education in medicine and our passion for human rights, we change lives, build services, and restore hope and power, so that one-day compassionate care will no longer need to be delivered on the streets.
CONTEXT
It is important to acknowledge that our work does not exist in a vacuum. Our organization was created against the backdrop of a fundamentally unequal society, one where systemic issues ensure that some people do not have equitable access to housing, healthcare, and other resources that they need to survive. More broadly, our country continues to struggle with issues of racism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia, xenophobia, classism, and ableism across every major institution; the healthcare system is no exception.
With this backdrop in mind, we remain dedicated to combatting systemic issues in the healthcare system through our internal and external initiatives. In particular, we recognize that individual introspection is essential for achieving progress, as we as individuals must consider whether we unconsciously perpetuate the very issues we seek to address. More importantly, we recognize that acknowledgment of these issues is not enough. As individuals and as an organization, we have a responsibility to not just acknowledge the problems around us, but to actively fight for a world where our organization is no longer needed.
