Tacoma committee hears update on state-funded street medicine pilot for people experiencing homelessness

Tacoma officials told the Community Vitality and Safety Committee on July 10 that a state-funded pilot providing medical care to people living outdoors has moved from planning into regular outreach, and they outlined service types, early encounter counts and a timeline for expanding deployments.

The city accepted a $1,000,000 grant from the Washington State Health Care Authority for a pilot through June 30, 2025, Caleb Carbone, homeless strategy systems and service program manager with the City of Tacoma’s Neighborhood and Community Services, told the committee. "The city accepted a grant for $1,000,000 through June thirtieth of 2025 from Washington State's Health Care Authority to pilot a program to provide street medicine services to support residents who are in encampments in the city of Tacoma," Carbone said.

Why it matters: Committee members and providers said street medicine can reduce emergency-room visits and 911 calls for medically fragile people who do not seek clinic care. Jan Runbeck, RN, supervisor of the Yakima Avenue Health-for-All pilot (housed at Nativity House and administered by Vallejo Vocations), cited a recent Challenge Seattle report and said its statewide emergency-department counts underline the scale of unmet need: "there are now about 900,000 visits to Washington state emergency departments made by those who are unhoused every year at a cost of over $1,150,000,000 per year," she said.

What the program does: Chantelle Harmon Reid, director…