Medical Help Offered to Homeless at Health Fair

Marked by shelters and soup kitchens, the blocks around 5th and San Pedro streets usually are among the most desperate in the city.

But for a few hours Wednesday, a three-block area here was transformed into a spirited festival of sorts, with live music, balloons festooning San Julian Park, and lines of people at canopied booths for the fourth annual Health Fair for the Homeless.

More than 1,000 people received health screenings, referrals and information about other services for the poor.

“The message we want to convey is that we care,” said Rogelio Stone, a coordinator for the Los Angeles County Department of Health Services, a co-sponsor of the event.

The service providers, some of which brought trailers, doctors and nurses, included nonprofit organizations across the county.

The fair-goers, some of whom brought shopping carts or bags filled with their possessions, included many elderly people and many more in tattered clothing.

Joyce, a 60-year-old diabetic who lives in a nearby residential hotel, sat still as county nurse Kim Davis pricked her finger and took a drop of blood.

Joyce, who asked that her last name not be used, said she hates going to doctors because she always must wait hours to see them.

Davis’ machines returned the results. “Your blood sugar is very high.” she said. “Go see your doctor today.”

Joyce cringed, then pressed her lips into a tight line when told that her cholesterol level also was too high.

Elsewhere at the fair, men and women had their teeth, blood pressure and hearing checked. Many were screened for breast or prostate cancer, tuberculosis and HIV.

Statistics from the tests serve as “a barometer of the health of the homeless community Los Angeles,” Stone said.