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Bringing Healthcare to the Unsheltered Community of Sacramento – An Interview with Anthony Menacho

by | Apr 10, 2021 | 121, Doctor, General Medical News, Health & Nutrition, Medicare, Medicine | 0 comments

About Anthony Menacho Anthony Menacho is a National Health Service Corps Scholar and a graduate from the PA program Keck School of Medicine at the University of Southern California. He...

About Anthony Menacho

Anthony Menacho is a National Health Service Corps Scholar and a graduate from the PA program Keck School of Medicine at the University of Southern California. He received his Bachelor’s Degree in Kinesiology at California State University with department and university honors.

Anthony Menacho focuses his resources primarily on creating stronger links with students who want to excel in their respective fields and with the less-fortunate communities of Sacramento. Together with his brother Eddie, he founded the Brainbox Methods, a community of approximately six thousand students dedicated to improving extra-curricular skills. Additionally, he’s the founder of Sacramento Street Medicine, an organization that helps the homeless community with its basic, day-to-day medical needs.

Keeping a Promise

The son of Latino immigrants, Menacho has led quite a busy life. He’s always out there, looking for new and exciting experiences. From being a congressional intern in D.C. to working in the ambulance service, Menacho always saw the need to give back to the community, especially the one whose needs repeatedly fell prey to closed doors and neglect.

However, the defining moment in shaping his career bears the mark of a family tragedy. After losing their father to kidney cancer, both Menacho and his brother took it upon themselves to honor his memory by becoming the best physicians they could be and helping the poor, the sick, and the needy.

Bringing Healthcare to the Unsheltered Community of Sacramento – An Interview with Anthony Menacho

Giving Back to the Student Community

Right from the university benches, Menacho envisioned a program destined to give back to the student community. With his brother Eddie by his side, he brought Brainbox Methods into the world: a company whose sole goal is to help young students overcome their social status discrepancies and get accepted into their dream universities.

With a strong follower community of over 6,000 people, Menacho provides resources to young students on how to succeed academically, emotionally, and professionally. For just a symbolic fee, students get a chance to add essential skills to their arsenal, skills that do not find enough space in the “classroom,” such as updating resumes and personal statements, writing, or learning how to pay off tuition in a very relaxing and friendly setting.

Menacho explains the rationale behind his decision: “I know students that went to some of the top, top high schools and got into college and were lost. And so if you, could you imagine somebody who comes from a low-income high school or a high school where they weren’t preparing them, how they felt, you know, if they got into some type of reputable institution, it’s almost like their chances are shot, you know?”

Next Big Step – Sacramento Street Medicine

But this was just the tip of Menacho’s iceberg of plans. As a student at the Keck School of Medicine, he had the chance to learn about street medicine from the best in the field. Following his relocation to Sacramento, CA, Menacho decided to implement his knowledge into a brand-new street medicine program called Sacramento Street Medicine (SSM).

Benefiting from the work of student & non-student volunteers organized into teams, Sacramento Street Medicine constantly takes the pulse of the city’s homeless community, providing primary, survival supplies and low-level wound care. Furthermore, as the organization is transitioning towards an established medical practice, Menacho hopes that his teams will be authorized to provide more medical care to those in need.

As the COVID-19 pandemic hit the streets of Sacramento with full force, Sacramento Street Medicine, although with fewer resources and human resources, played a significant role in keeping the homeless population away from the virus providing COVID-19 testing and education while following every single safety protocol in the book.

Bridging the Gap between the Homeless Population and Hospitals

Aside from providing primary care to needful communities, Menacho and his team strive towards minimizing the gap between the homeless and the local authorities. Already crippled by lack of trust and fears of sweeping (i.e., relocations), this relationship became even more uneasy with the arrival of COVID-19; instead of asking for medical assistance right away, people choose to hold out until it becomes a matter of life and death.

With the financial help from external sources and an understanding Sacramento community, Menacho is already making tremendous progress. With his unquenchable passion and disregard for financial gains, he finds an honor and a blessing in this opportunity to help others. We can only hope that his beautiful initiative will serve as an example to those who want to give a chance at a better tomorrow to needful communities.

If you would like to learn more about Anthony Menacho and his mission, make sure that you check out the following website.

Hannah H.
Hannah H.

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