If health care is a small part of health, how does a safety net hospital adapt?

"At one of the busiest public hospitals in the nation, doctors have learned that to heal a patient on the inside, they must understand the patient’s world outside the exam room.

What kind of neighborhood do you live in? Are you buying healthy food? How are you getting to work? The questions are meant to uncover the root causes of what bring men and women into the Adult East Primary Care Clinic at the Los Angeles County-USC Medical Center, just east of downtown L.A. Once that screening takes place and a doctor understands how a patient's health is impacted by homelesses, lack of nutrious food or trauma, a team of providers is ready to help. Nurses, social workers, community advocates, nutritionists, mental health specialists, medical students, and volunteers are ready to link a patient to, say, food stamps or psychological care, said Dr. Jagruti Shukla, director of primary care at LAC+USC..."

Susan Abram | July 25, 2018

This piece appears in the Center for Health Journalism Fellowships Blog