Health is Social Justice Work with Dr. Clemens Hong
For Dr. Clemens Hong, health is social justice work, rooted in the community-oriented primary care movement of the 1960s. He joins us for a powerful interview about on-the-ground implementation of whole person care in a county bigger than many countries. Dr. Hong leads community programs for LA County including housing supports, reentry and diversion programs, street-based outreach, and benefits navigation. We talk about the “mountain of challenges” people face when they return to the community from jail and prison, and the need to build the capacity and agency of community organizations and peer experts.
We discuss:
- The impact of Intergenerational trauma, systemic racism and mass incarceration on health
- Deep dives on reentry and housing for health
- His suggestions for CalAIM: broader eligibility, improved access to services, and making community supports an actual benefit
- Creating sustainable work and impact
Clemens shares the striking results from introducing community health workers with lived experience:
“There’s a study that’s been done by the Transitions Clinic, and one of our partner sites, Santa Clara, where they showed that arrival to the first appointment after incarceration increased from 30% to 70%, with their hiring … a community health worker with lived experience… Engagement is the foundation to anything we can do in delivering health to communities: engagement of the individual and the survivors of trauma, but also the communities organizations are really critical”
Relevant Links
Housing for Health – Housing For Health (lacounty.gov)
Office of Diversion and Reentry – OFFICE OF DIVERSION AND REENTRY (lacounty.gov)
Knitting Together Health and Social Services in Los Angeles
Impact Report from Whole Person Care Pilots in Los Angeles [PDF]
Community-Oriented Primary Care: A Path to Community Development
About Our Guest
Dr Clemens Hong, MD, MPH, is Director of Community Programs for Los Angeles County Department of Health Services where he oversees multiple County programs including Housing for Health, the Office of Diversion and Reentry, Whole Person Care, My Health LA, CalAIM, and COVID-19 Testing. In 2006 he co-founded the Transitions Clinic with Dr. Emily Wang in San Francisco. He taught for several years at Harvard Medical School, and joined Massachusetts General Hospital as a primary care general internist and health services researcher. Dr. Hong received his Bachelor’s Degree from the University of Washington and his Master’s Degree from Tufts University School of Medicine. He completed internal medicine training in the San Francisco General Hospital Primary Care Program at UCSF, as well as a general medicine fellowship at Harvard Medical School.
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