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About Us

We provide medical care to Sacramento's homeless community.

Street Medicine Sacramento

Street Medicine Sacramento provides medical care directly to those living and sleeping on the streets through mobile services such as walking teams, medical vans and outdoor clinics. Our services are the first essential step in achieving higher levels of care through assertive, coordinated and collaborative medical management.

Every night, more than 2,000 people in Sacramento County sleep on the streets, in their cars, and in homeless encampments along the rivers. Thousands more live in temporary shelters and couch surf just to have a roof over their heads. Because of medical neglect, the life expectancy of a homeless person is 30 years less than someone who is not homeless. We have a humanitarian crisis right here in the capitol of California.

Street Medicine Sacramento was founded by Tim Fallis in 2015. Tim has provided care to the homeless population for the past 30 years at work and outside of work.

In January 2016, Sacramento Street Medicine is in the process of becoming a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization. We are actively looking for board members, medical navigators, and volunteers to help run our program.

Meet Our Organizers

TIM FALLIS

Tim Fallis founded Street Nurse Sacramento in April 2015 as a pilot project and precursor to Street Medicine Sacramento. His immediate goal was to send small teams of health care professionals into the streets, alleys, and homeless camps to assess the health needs of the homeless population.

Tim has taken physicians, medical residents, medical students, and nursing students on street rounds to expose them to the health needs of the homeless community. He also organized a day-long event at UC Davis School of Medicine which featured a presentation by Dr. Jim Withers, the founder of the street medicine movement.

Tim has been a practicing nurse in Sacramento since 1978. He worked at UC Davis Medical Center in the 70’s during the transition from Sacramento County Hospital. He also worked at Mercy General, WellSpace Health, and other local hospitals. More than half of his career was in inpatient and outpatient mental health.

Tim has been a guest speaker at UC Davis School of Medicine on the subjects of health equity and homelessness. His work experience on the street and in local healthcare organizations gives him a unique and informed view of what it takes to address the health needs of the homeless population.

JOHN LOVEJOY, DO

MEDICAL DIRECTOR

Dr. John Lovejoy practices prenatal and general osteopathic medicine for Peach Tree Health in Midtown Sacramento. He realized that many of his patients were unable to enjoy the benefits of the Affordable Care Act because of the challenges and complexities of being homeless. He asked himself if we can make house calls to people who are homebound and in long-term care facilities, why can’t we visit them in parks, along the river, and on the streets?

In 2015, Dr. Lovejoy attended a conference in San Jose where doctors from Pittsburg (PA), San Jose, and Santa Barbara described their successful street backpack medicine programs bringing care to patients where they lived. Since then, he has been working with Tim Fallis and UC Davis medical students and faculty to develop Street Medicine Sacramento. Dr. Lovejoy believes that health care in this country should be a right and not a privilege of circumstances or wealth.

Dr. Lovejoy received his B.A. in Biology from UC Santa Cruz and his Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine from University of New England College of Osteopathic Medicine in Maine.

TED FONG, MBA

ADVISER

Ted Fong volunteers his time setting up operations for Street Medicine Sacramento. He was the Chief Operating Officer of River City Medical Group where he managed Sacramento’s largest Medi-Cal provider network, consisting of more than 400 primary care physicians and specialists. He was also the Chief Operating Officer at Peach Tree Health, a federally qualified health center (FQHC) based in Marysville, CA. Having worked for both the payor and the provider sides in healthcare, Ted has become a proponent of putting people in the field to service those who are unable or unwilling to come into the doctor’s office. “Not only is it the humanitarian thing to do, it makes economic sense,” he says. “It doesn’t cost much, and it produces a huge savings in terms of reducing avoidable ER visits and hospitalizations.” Ted was born and raised in Sacramento. His father was Dr. William Y. Fong, an internist who practice for more than 50 years at his office on 50th and J Streets. Ted has an MBA from UCLA and a BS in bioengineering from UC Berkeley.