This February, Doctors Without Walls (DWW) coordinators and volunteers will travel to the California Street Medicine Symposium with a shared purpose: to learn and connect with groups passionate about street medicine. Our volunteers will bring back tools that will strengthen the care we provide on the streets. Hosted by the Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California, this two-day gathering brings together some of the most influential people of street medicine.
For DWW, this is more than a conference to learn. It is a chance to be in a space built around the core values that guide our work every day, meeting people where they are and pushing for care systems that leave no one behind.
As homelessness continues to rise and healthcare narrows, street medicine delivers healthcare in the places people actually live: sidewalks, encampments, vehicles, and shelters. After all, we are doctors with no walls, we have no barriers. Attending the California Street Medicine Symposium allows our teams to deepen our understanding in many aspects and learn from leaders across the state. This is where the solutions are shared, the hard conversations are held, and the future of street-based care is shaped. This is where innovation happens! Sessions explore trauma-informed care, harm reduction, mental health, chronic illness, policy barriers, and advocacy, always grounded in real-world experience and solutions.
For DWW volunteers, this conference offers powerful insight into the systems that shape homelessness. It provides the language, context, and tools needed to engage more effectively, more respectfully, and more sustainably. Volunteers are more confident and connected to the mission. For DWW coordinators, the symposium is a chance to learn from peers doing similar work across California, exchange strategies, and bring back ideas that can directly strengthen our programs. The workshops and roundtable discussions are designed to turn reflection into action, supporting teams who are navigating complex challenges in real time.
What sets this conference apart is its commitment to centering people with lived experience of homelessness. For DWW, this matters deeply. Listening to the voices often excluded from policy and healthcare decisions pushes us to do better and reevaluate our strategy for serving homelessness. It reminds us that meaningful change happens when people most impacted are leading the way.
Street medicine is powerful work, but it is also demanding. The symposium makes space for conversations about burnout, grief, and moral injury, offering tools to support those who show up day after day on the frontlines. For DWW, investing in this learning is an investment in our people. Supporting the wellbeing of coordinators and volunteers ensures that this work remains grounded, compassionate, and sustainable for the long haul.
The true value of attending the California Street Medicine Symposium lies in what comes next. DWW coordinators and volunteers will return with new skills, stronger partnerships, and renewed passion, ready to translate their learned knowledge into action. Conference insights will inform outreach practices, volunteer training, and collaboration with community partners. Just as importantly, this experience reinforces why we do this work. It reminds us that street medicine is not only about healthcare, it is about presence, trust, and standing with people who have been pushed to the margins.
As Doctors Without Walls heads to the California Street Medicine Symposium, we do so with intention and excitement. This is an opportunity to grow, to listen deeply, and to strengthen our commitment to health equity. We return ready, not just inspired, but equipped to continue meeting our unhoused neighbors with dignity, compassion, and care.
BY Evelyn Sanchez, DWW Communications Volunteer
