{"id":194909,"date":"2026-02-26T15:12:16","date_gmt":"2026-02-26T15:12:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/194909\/"},"modified":"2026-02-26T15:12:16","modified_gmt":"2026-02-26T15:12:16","slug":"this-street-medic-is-a-hero-to-l-a-s-homeless-dr-bretts-office-is-the-streets","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/194909\/","title":{"rendered":"This street medic is a hero to L.A.’s homeless. “Dr. Brett’s” office is the streets"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Starting out as a young medical practitioner, Brett Feldman sometimes walked for miles to treat homeless people living in the wooded outskirts of Allentown, Penn. Feldman was determined to treat those in need, wherever the path led.<\/p>\n

You’re reading the Essential California newsletter <\/p>\n

Nineteen years later and 2,700 miles to the west, Feldman now helps lead the USC Street Medicine program<\/a> he helped create. In Los Angeles, the epicenter of homelessness in America, the physician\u2019s assistant never needs to look far to find someone in need.<\/p>\n

\u201cI never had to walk by somebody before that I couldn\u2019t help. And that took a lot to get used to,\u201d said Feldman, a short man with the muscles of a body builder and the dreamy affect of a poet. \u201cThat\u2019s why we focus on the one-on-one, instead of trying to count big, big numbers. Eventually, we hope the ones add up to something bigger.\u201d<\/p>\n

On a recent morning, Feldman and his colleagues made their rounds, visiting people living in ragamuffin tents on sidewalks and crannies just west of downtown. Feldman, medical resident Israel Garcia and community health worker Raymond Luna patched up wounds, tested blood pressure, administered shots and handed out medications. <\/p>\n

And they listened.<\/p>\n

They listened to beating hearts. They listened to lungs rattling with chronic disease. They listened to the stories of people accustomed to being ignored.<\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of people drive by like you\u2019re an eyesore or something,\u201d said Zarak Walden, 58, sitting inside his stand-up tent, one of more than a dozen lining Beacon Avenue, within view of downtown\u2019s luxury high-rises. \u201cThese guys don\u2019t drive by. They stop. They talk. They communicate. Someone is showing love for you.\u201d<\/p>\n

A true healer walks among them<\/p>\n

Feldman and his crew came to check back on Walden\u2019s girlfriend, a 24-year-old struggling to recover from having her leg and pelvis shattered in a fall from a fire escape. Feldman found her lying on just a couple of blankets on top of the concrete, moaning in pain. But he sees marked improvement from weeks earlier. Then, a surgical wound had reopened and grown infected, and the young woman\u2019s weight had dropped to well under 100 pounds.<\/p>\n

Walden marveled that Feldman even picked up the phone to take a progress report while the medic was in Kentucky attending a conference. \u201cThat shows this is more than a job,\u201d Walden said. \u201cThat goes a long way with me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Charles Wilkerson III, who lives several tents down, said the Beacon Avenue residents recognize when true healers walk among them. \u201cIt\u2019s amazing. It\u2019s amazing. It\u2019s amazing,\u201d said Wilkerson, 43, being treated for crystal meth addiction. \u201cYou just got to be honest with whatever you got. And Dr. Brett, he has the remedy.\u201d (Many here call Feldman \u201cDoctor,\u201d more impressed by results than by any medical degree.)<\/p>\n

USC Street Medicine plans to create its sixth team to focus on MacArthur Park, ground zero for the kind of \u201ctri-morbidity\u201d cases common on the street \u2014 in which substance abuse, mental health afflictions and physical maladies collide. (He\u2019s helped launch another 200 street medicine programs nationwide.)<\/p>\n

Engaging people in their suffering<\/p>\n

And the 44-year-old is just half of what one USC colleague called Street Medicine\u2019s \u201csuperstar\u201d couple. Wife Corinne Feldman creates curricula and training for street practitioners. Drawing from Catholic social teaching<\/a>, the couple rejects the notion that healers must hold patients at arm\u2019s length.<\/p>\n

\u201cDo you engage with them and maybe share in their suffering and maybe expose yourself to secondary trauma, or do you retreat in an act of self-preservation?\u201d Feldman asks. \u201cAnd if you\u2019ve been trained, the professional thing to do is retreat… But when you do that, you leave the person isolated and you\u2019ve also isolated yourself, knowing that you\u2019ve abandoned the very people you\u2019ve dedicated your life to serving.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat we talk about, instead, is being willing to engage people in their suffering. You know: hugging with them, crying with them, being with them. I think that part is invigorating. It just feeds you. You are drawing from a deeper well.\u201d<\/p>\n

Feldman doles out pills and salves. He injects anti-psychotics and weight-loss drugs.<\/p>\n

Along Beacon Avenue, it\u2019s not hard to be overwhelmed by the smell of urine and despair. But Feldman\u2019s nose seems more sensitive to hope. \u201cWhat I love about medicine,\u201d he says, \u201cis that it\u2019s really an instrument of peace.\u201d<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s top stories \"LAUSD <\/a> <\/p>\n

Los Angeles Unified School District Supt. Alberto Carvalho speaks during a news conference at LAUSD headquarters in downtown Los Angeles on Tuesday.<\/p>\n

(Christina House\/Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n

FBI raids LAUSD Supt. Alberto Carvalho\u2019s homeFederal authorities raided the home and office of Carvalho<\/a> on Wednesday morning in what appears to be a probe related to a company that developed an AI chatbot for the nation\u2019s second-largest school system.Officials did not provide information about the investigation, but a source with knowledge of the case said it involved a failed AI company whose founder was charged with fraud in 2024.Here\u2019s more on the rising star in education<\/a> who is now part an of FBI investigation.Possible record-breaking heat in SoCalBlue skies and toasty temperatures are on deck as possible record-setting heat<\/a> sweeps into the region this week.On Friday, the heat wave is poised to tie or even break several single-day temperature records in Los Angeles.Tight California governor\u2019s raceA tight race to replace termed-out Gov. Newsom<\/a> has three Democrats and two Republicans in a statistical tie just months before the June primary.Cost-of-living concerns are driving voter preferences, with affordability emerging as a defining issue that could shape the election.With nine Democrats in the field, party leaders worry that two Republican candidates could advance to November\u2019s general election.What else is going onCommentary and opinionsAI isn\u2019t ready to be your doctor yet \u2014 but columnist Michael Hiltzik asks, will it ever be?<\/a> Boring, nasty, predictable:<\/a> Trump\u2019s speech relies on game show theatrics that fall short, columnist Anita Chabria argues.At the Los Angeles Hispanic Republican Club\u2019s potluck party for Trump\u2019s State of the Union address, there was a problem: Not many Hispanics showed up<\/a>, columnist Gustavo Arellano writes.This morning\u2019s must readOther must readsFor your downtime \"A <\/a> <\/p>\n

Maria Sanchez browses through vinyl albums at the Midnight Hour Records store, which has become a community gathering spot and hub for supporting immigrants.<\/p>\n

(Gina Ferazzi\/Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n

Going outStaying inA question for you: Got a picture of the snow? Send it our way \"A <\/p>\n

A cross-country ski and snowshoe rental yurt surrounded by snow on Mammoth Mountain. <\/p>\n

(Suzanne Weiner)<\/p>\n

Suzanne Weiner took this photo while on Mammoth Mountain. She said she enjoys the sheer beauty and peacefulness of being in this wooded area with lots of snow. <\/p>\n

Email us at essentialcalifornia@latimes.com<\/a>, and your response might appear in the newsletter this week.<\/p>\n

And finally … from our archives \"Grand <\/p>\n

Grand Canyon National Park is covered in the morning sunlight as seen from a helicopter near Tusayan, Ariz.<\/p>\n

(Julie Jacobson \/ Associated Press)<\/p>\n

On Feb. 26, 1919, the Grand Canyon was designated a national park. It went on to become one of America\u2019s most popular tourist attractions.<\/p>\n

For the national park\u2019s 100th anniversary in 2019, The Times published a list of 100 things to know before you visit<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Have a great day, from the Essential California team<\/p>\n

Jim Rainey, staff reporter
Hugo Mart\u00edn, assistant editor, fast break desk
Kevinisha Walker, multiplatform editor
Andrew Campa, weekend writer
Karim Doumar, head of newsletters<\/p>\n

How can we make this newsletter more useful? Send comments to essentialcalifornia@latimes.com<\/a>. Check our top stories<\/a>, topics<\/a> and the latest articles<\/a> on latimes.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Starting out as a young medical practitioner, Brett Feldman sometimes walked for miles to treat homeless people living…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":194910,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[7,2299,1085,891,2300,2297,340,2303,48,52,51,47,50,49,63,2302,1086,1459,2301,2298,74,225,315,688],"class_list":{"0":"post-194909","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-los-angeles","8":"tag-california","9":"tag-civic-revolt","10":"tag-covid","11":"tag-covid-19","12":"tag-days","13":"tag-essential-california","14":"tag-israel","15":"tag-l-a","16":"tag-la","17":"tag-la-headlines","18":"tag-la-news","19":"tag-los-angeles","20":"tag-los-angeles-headlines","21":"tag-los-angeles-news","22":"tag-los-angeles-times","23":"tag-may","24":"tag-pandemic","25":"tag-part","26":"tag-president-biden","27":"tag-red-county","28":"tag-san-diego","29":"tag-state","30":"tag-time","31":"tag-years"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/194909","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=194909"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/194909\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/194910"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=194909"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=194909"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=194909"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}