Health Fair Scheduled to Wrap Up Homeless Awareness Week

Two events are scheduled in San Jose on Friday to help Santa Clara County mark National Hunger and Homeless Awareness Week.

The first is a health fair at St. Joseph's Cathedral at 80 S. Market St. downtown that will include free flu shots, haircuts and glucose and cholesterol screening, from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.

The second activity, a screening of the award-winning documentary "Food Stamped," takes place from noon to 1 p.m. in the Cafeteria Conference Room at Valley Medical Center, 751 S. Bascom Ave. in San Jose.

The film is about a couple who try to eat healthy meals for week using only food stamps to purchase their food.

Homeless program officials said there were 7,045 homeless people
counted in Santa Clara County in 2011, one in four of them reporting job loss
as the main reason.

An estimated 18,272 people become homeless for a period of time each year in the county, about one percent of the county's population, officials said.

The largest group of people who are homeless in the county is white males, aged 31 to 60, officials said.

Friday's events are the last of a three-day series of events in the county meant to promote awareness of the daily lives of the homeless in Santa Clara County.

On Wednesday, an exhibition of art by local homeless people was held in downtown San Jose.

The show, coordinated by the county's Valley Homeless Healthcare Program, was held at the county office building at 70 W. Hedding St. in San Jose, health officials said.

In addition to the show, the homeless healthcare program, affiliated with the Santa Clara County Valley Medical Center, had its mobile medical unit spread information about free primary care and mental health services available to the homeless.

Program staff and volunteers launched the event series on Tuesday with a lunch, flu shots and toiletry exchange at a homeless encampment near Coyote Creek in northern Santa Clara County.

--Bay City News Service