Why we ask
Free is not the same as reachable.
A service can cost nothing and still be out of reach if it sits across town, on a weekday, at an hour someone is working. So we stopped guessing and asked.
169 community members completed our community needs and engagement assessment, offered in English and Spanish. It is community feedback, collected so we can plan our own services. The counts below are exact. Percentages are calculated on the people who answered each question, because any question could be skipped.
Everything on this page traces back to those answers. Where a number would require us to guess, we left it out.
What the community told us
Cost, time, and a ride.
Three barriers came back ahead of everything else. Mobile Health Outreach exists because all three are answerable by where and how a service is delivered, not by explaining the service better.
Named cost as a barrier to getting care. Every Mobile Health Outreach deployment is free at the point of service.
Named time. We set up at hours and events people are already attending, rather than asking them to find a new block of a working day.
Named transportation. This is the barrier a mobile team removes outright, by covering the distance instead of asking someone else to.
Said the support they most need is information about free or low-cost services. The single largest request was not treatment. It was knowing what already exists.
Asked for help understanding how to access services. Knowing a program exists and being able to use it are two different problems, and people named both.
Counts are the number of people who selected each option out of 169 total respondents. People could select more than one answer, and any question could be skipped, so percentages are of those answering that question and do not total 100.
Outreach team on site at a park deployment in Los Angeles. Clinical staff, students, and volunteers set up together.
How that shapes deployment
People come for the giveaway table.
Free items, food, and something for the children outranked free health screenings in why people showed up. We would rather work with that than pretend otherwise.
Read it as operating instructions. A health event without giveaways, without food, and without anything for a child to do reaches fewer people, which means fewer blood pressure readings taken and fewer referrals made. The screening tent is not competing with the giveaway table. It is standing next to it, which is the only reason it gets busy.
It also explains the shape of a deployment. Families arrive together, so a parent will only sit down for a screening if their children are occupied within sight. Staffing the family activity is a clinical decision, not a nice extra.
Why people attended a community event
169 respondents, more than one answer allowed.
What would make someone attend the next one
Asked separately from why people attended before.
How the feedback was collected
- Respondents
- 169
- Languages
- English and Spanish
- Format
- Multiple choice, more than one answer allowed on most questions
- Skipping
- Any question could be skipped, so the number answering varies by question
- Reporting
- Counts are exact. Percentages are of those answering that question
- Purpose
- Program planning for Health Matters Clinic. Community feedback, not published science
What a deployment includes
What we set up when we arrive.
A screening station, a health education table, and someone whose whole job is helping people work out what to do next. Everything is free, and no insurance or identification is required to sit down.
Screening finds the problem. Navigation is how it gets treated. Running one without the other is how people end up holding a number they do not know what to do with.
Vitals and screening
- Blood pressure
- Blood glucose
- Cholesterol
- Oxygen saturation
Health education
- What your readings mean, explained on the spot
- Materials in English and Spanish
- Mental health and wellness information
- Questions answered without an appointment
Referrals and navigation
- Connection to free and low-cost services
- Help understanding how to access them, the second most requested support
- Referral into HMC programs and partner services
- Follow-up information to take home
A deployment is a screening and navigation service, not a replacement for a primary care relationship. When a reading needs a clinician, the point of the visit is getting you to one.
How people want to hear from us
A phone in a hand, and someone standing in front of you.
Phone or text was the most common way people wanted to receive information, followed by hearing it in person at an event. Almost everyone said they would use a digital tool to find free services, and the great majority want us to keep them updated.
Prefer phone or text
37.9% chose phone or text as how they want to get information, ahead of every other channel.
Prefer in person
31.7% want to hear it at the event itself, which is one more reason the education table is staffed.
Very likely to use a digital tool
75.5% said very likely and a further 29 people, 19.2%, said somewhat likely.
Want updates from us
84.7% said yes to receiving digital updates about services and events.
What the 61 asked us to send.
Among the people who preferred phone or text, the requests line up with the barriers. They are not asking for a newsletter. They are asking for the name of something free and the steps to use it.
That is what the Event Finder is for: every HMC event, searchable without an account, on a phone, so that knowing where to go stops being the hard part.
Requested by those preferring phone or text
Counts among the 61 people who chose phone or text. More than one answer allowed.
Join the work
The teams are volunteers.
A deployment needs people at the screening station, at the education table, at the sign-in table, and with the families. Clinical and non-clinical roles both matter, and both are trained before anyone works an event.
Become a volunteer
Every HMC volunteer completes Community Mental Health Worker training, parts one and two, before working with the community. Training and hours are tracked in your volunteer record.
- Screening support alongside clinical staff
- Health education and navigation roles
- Recurring deployments, not one-off shifts
Take the tour
New to HMC and not ready to sign up? The tour walks you through how volunteering works, what the training covers, and what a shift actually asks of you, before you commit to anything.
Donate
Screening supplies, education materials in two languages, and the food and family activities that fill the site are what a donation pays for. The feedback is clear that the last part is not decoration. It is what gets people through the gate.
Bring us to your site
Schools, churches, housing sites, and community organizations can request a Mobile Health Outreach deployment. Tell us the neighborhood, the date, and roughly how many people you expect, and we will tell you what we can bring.
Where to reach the team
Questions about volunteering, hosting a deployment, or supporting a site come to the same place.
Health Matters Clinic
Attention: Mobile Health Outreach
1360 S Figueroa St, Suite D390
Los Angeles, CA 90015