Good Samaritan Hospital, St. Vincent de Paul celebrate new partnership to assist homeless and indigent population of Baker Street area
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BAKERSFIELED, Calif. (KGET) — Unhoused and low-income Bakersfield residents welcomed a new advocate to their Baker Street neighborhood on Saturday – Good Samaritan Hospital.
The locally owned health care organization announced a partnership with Saint Vincent de Paul, which has been helping the homeless and disadvantaged from its campus at 316 Baker, just south of East Truxtun Avenue, for 70 years.
With the help of a couple of elected officials, Good Samaritan, which specializes in detox, psychiatric, and medical-surgical services, snipped the ribbon on its new Day Habilitation Center – a one-stop shop for comprehensive services including mail, veterinary, laundry, nutrition, hygiene, housing, and health care. A new, well-equipped mobile medical unit will help Good Samaritan serve the public.
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The Center will also provide substance use disorder counseling and case management in collaboration with the Premier Valley Medical Group and its Integrated Street Medicine and Addiction Recovery Team.
Oscar Zubiran, the operations manager at St. Vincent de Paul, said the mission has a broad target.
“It’s not just for our clients,” he said, “it’s provided for the entire neighborhood.”
St. Vincent de Paul operated a thrift store here for years, but it’s being transformed into a health clinic. Also in the works is an emergency-shelter campground, which organizers hope to get operational in a few months.
Social worker Ashleigh Herrera says she hopes the City of Bakersfield will continue to be a partner.
“I think we just need the city to keep moving forward with this exciting potential,” she said, “And I’d love to see (the campground open) by 2025.”
St. Vincent board member, Gregg Gunner, called it a “glorious partnership.”
“In a world where there aren’t a lot of solutions sometimes, it’s like something really dynamic is going on here, and I think there’s more to come,” Gunner said. “It’s just a fun day, a glorious partnership and it’s gonna help the homeless bigtime.”
Indeed, the joint-venture Day Habilitation Center is proof good things can happen in areas that don’t get a lot of good things.
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