BY MEG SULLIVAN
UCLA Today
Of all the hardships of homelessness, living
day in and day out with cold, wet feet was the problem that
most moved Jo Marie Tran Janco when she began volunteering with
UCLA’s Mobile Clinic Project in 2001.
So she peeled the tattered shoes and soiled,
soggy socks off the feet of the clinic’s clientele to
find all kinds of painful and malodorous fungi and scales. These
conditions cause more than just pain.
“When you’re sick and having trouble
walking, it’s that much harder to get to the food line,
look for work and take a shower,” said Janco, who wants
to become a doctor. “Difficulties that already seem overwhelming
just get compounded.”
So she began distributing clean, fresh socks
to the homeless who flocked to the mobile clinic for free health
care provided by UCLA medical students and social services from
public health students.
Last winter, Janco assembled and passed out
survival kits with blankets, ponchos, hats, gloves and socks.
Her supplies were purchased with $1,100 from student fees and
proceeds from clothing drives held in the residence halls.
With the advent of summer, she is preparing
other kits with lip balm, sunscreen, hats, socks and, if available,
shoes, as well as personal care items. Janco, now a junior,
returns every Wednesday night and crouches on the sidewalk in
a gritty section of Hollywood to tend to her clients.
“People wonder how can I stand to do it,”
said Janco. “But I enjoy what I’m doing. I’m
reminded of everything that’s good in my life and of how
much still has to be done. That just makes me want to work harder.”
Janco, a neuroscience and English major, is
one of three recipients of UCLA’s 2003 Charles E. Young
Humanitarian Award, the highest honor given by the university
for community service. Janco plans to use the award’s
$500 prize to replace some of the clinic’s medical equipment
and possibly pay for hepatitis B immunizations for the homeless.
“Jo Marie is the backbone of the UCLA
Mobile Clinic Project; without her dedication, the clinic would
not be as successful as it is currently,” said Heather
Long, who served as a student coordinator on the project. “Her
calm demeanor and intense interest in the overall health and
well-being of clients are inspirational.”
The lesson she lives by — giving back
because you have been given much — came from her parents.
Her mother and her once-well-to-do family fled Saigon and lived
in a refugee camp before settling in Connecticut.
“From my family’s experience, I
know that it’s easy to slide from one level of well-being
and affluence to another,” Janco said. “My heart
just goes out to people in social and economic freefall because
my mother and grandparents have explained how demoralizing the
experience can be.”
