This summer we had the opportunity to interview the winners of last year’s SGUO Case Competition on “Addressing the Unhoused Population as a Public Health Crisis“, Aarush Admala, Arushi Parikh, Olivia Lee and Rithu Velu. Their project explores the different barriers unhoused individuals face when accessing healthcare. Even with health insurance, challenges such as unreliable transportation and unstable living conditions make it difficult for unhoused individuals to receive the care they need. Our proposed solutions use a multifaceted approach, including onsite medical lockers, healthcare shuttle buses, and transit navigators to help bridge these gaps.
1. What steps did you take to learn more about your case?
We are all deeply passionate about finding solutions to this issue and have some prior knowledge. However, to expand our understanding, we utilized UCLA’s online library resources as well as learned from peers who know more about the issue. These insights helped us form solutions that approach each part of the issue.
2. What was the hardest part of the competition, and how did you deal with it?
The most challenging aspect of the competition was narrowing down our solutions and presenting them in a clear, organized manner. We overcame this by managing our time, dedicating much of it to discussions about which solutions would have the greatest impact.
3. Did you use any special tools or sources to do your research?
Some team members are a part of Project Lux, which is a student organization focused on enrolling unhoused individuals into healthcare insurance and distributing bus passes to help them access hospitals more easily. This experience helping unhoused individuals allowed us to think of solutions that address problems we have seen firsthand.
4. What advice would you give to future participants who want to stand out in a case competition like SGUO’s?
Our advice for future participants is to remain open to each team member’s ideas. Collaborating with new people can be intimidating, but we believe our success came from keeping open minds, asking questions, and discussing each idea to ensure it was both practical and impactful.