On cold nights in Hollywood, Nick Davis rides in an ambulance and searches the
streets for homeless people who might
need help.

Davis is not a psychologist, a medic or a nurse. He doesn’t have any professional training or a college degree. But Davis brings something to the Coalition of Service and Charity (COSAC) shelter’s outreach program that no one else can: Three months ago, he was homeless. He knows what it feels like to live on the streets with an empty stomach, not knowing where his next meal or shelter
will be.

"I know that one meal or one shower helps," says Davis, who is part of a rescue team from the COSAC shelter that goes around every month looking for people who need food, water, shelter, a blanket or just a hot cup of coffee.

For two years, the COSAC shelter, a privately funded homeless shelter in Hollywood, has been sending an ambulance staffed with a licensed nurse, a clinical psychologist, a police escort and someone who has experience with homelessness.

"Sometimes I dress an old wound or take their blood. Other times I just offer cigarettes and water," says George Dekeles, a licensed nurse who goes on outreach rides often with the shelter. On a recent Saturday, Dekeles and the rest of the team approached a homeless man lying in the grass off a highway exit. From under a blanket, he told them he didn’t need help but eagerly accepted a box of cigarettes and two meal kits.

"We can help them when they can’t help themselves," says Yvette Tucholski-Dekeles, a licensed mental health counselor and one of the team members.

The outreach program began with founder/director Sean Cononie driving around in his car on cold nights and looking for people who needed a warm place to stay. The need was so great that they started using a van and, eventually, an ambulance.

The team goes out to places that many homeless people frequent, such as under bridges and overpasses and in back alleys. Sometimes whole groups can be found under the highway, and many "regulars" frequent the same spot.

"Steve can always be found on Pembroke Road and Interstate 95," Tucholski-Dekeles says. "Once we found him sleeping in his
own feces."

The ambulance goes out once a month when it’s warm and every night when it’s cold. It is stocked with meal kits and water. Some people are taken to the COSAC shelter or the hospital. Others prefer to stay where they are but accept whatever the team has to offer.

"Some of these people are on the brink of life or death," says Hollywood police officer Antonio Pontigo, who often escorts the team. "The outreach program gives them a chance."