How do you solve a healthcare worker shortage while strengthening community ties? San Diego’s Laura Rodriguez Medical Assistant Institute, supported by Direct Relief, trains local residents to care for their own neighbors—with 119 graduates since 2023 and counting.
Considered the most destructive in California history, the wildfires decimated entire neighborhoods, leaving thousands of people displaced and in distress. From International Medical Corps.
The Los Angeles County jail system’s innovative peer mental health program has grown from a small pilot to serve over 400 patients, becoming a model for correctional facilities nationwide.
How a brigade of locals became a key force in protecting people from the L.A. fires. From Harvard Public Health.
UCLA dental students joined Los Médicos Voladores (Flying Doctors) and Healing California in a large-scale event in February, providing free dental, medical, and vision care to wildfire-displaced individuals and underserved communities in El Monte.