There were many facets of the COVID-19 pandemic that considerably impacted the lives of persons experiencing homelessness. In response, individuals and families composing the homeless population adapted. The same was true for organizations serving the community. Shelters adapted their floor plans to increase “social distancing”; large-venue congregant shelters opened to accommodate the increased numbers of individuals who found themselves without housing; restrictions on outdoor camping were loosened which in turn made homelessness far more visible; cities struggled with new issues of allowing ‘tent cities’ in parks and parking lots regardless if they were officially sanctioned or not; agencies serving the population fiscally re-evaluated increased need for services with decreased funding from donations; everyone worried about the virus and simply surviving through the worst of the pandemic.

Jim Withers, MD and Joel Hunt, PA

The act of providing direct medical care to those living on the streets is not just an important service, but one that provokes society. Time and again, street medicine programs activate the attention of the public and the media. This is an almost guaranteed part of the street medicine journey and deserves discussion. This paper is not a definitive work on the subject of media relations, but hopefully serves as a guide based on many decades of experience by street medicine experts.

Jim Withers' Story

Dr. Jim Withers is the Founder of the Street Medicine Institute. The Institute evolved as an off-shoot of his groundbreaking work with Pittsburgh Mercy's Operation Safety Net, the street medicine program he established and continues to work with in Pittsburgh, PA. Dr. Withers describes his experience with street medicine in his Ted Talk here.

We are currently looking for more people who want to be involved with the Street Medicine Educator Coalition! Learn more about the Educator Coalition. Currently, we have opportunities for positions on our Leadership Team and Education Work Group.

There’s something jarring about walking towards the U.S. Capitol and being surrounded by rows of tents that so many District of Columbia residents call home. Just blocks from the White House, there are encampments of people living without adequate shelter, access to food, or healthcare. In a city rich with resources and arguably the center of power in the United States, nowhere is it more obvious where we as a nation have made the political choice to intentionally value certain lives over others.

Dear Student Coalition, 

The application process is now open, and all students are invited to apply for the 2022-2023 Street Medicine Institute Student Coalition (SMISC) Leadership Team! You will find the application link at the bottom of this message.

I will be the first to admit it. Even though I am a “child of the sixties”, my personal and professional life have generally followed the straight and narrow. Yet, I always felt motivated by the challenging words and actions of John F. Kennedy, Martin Luther King, Jr, St. Teresa of Calcutta, and Paul Farmer. And, what about the admonition from the New Testament: “Whatsoever you do to the least of my brothers and sisters, so you do unto Me”? Even my high school teacher charted my trajectory with the adage “To whom much is given, much is to be expected”.

Suzanne Lemaire Lozier joined the Street Medicine Institute as Operations Manager in July 2022. Her career as a social worker has centered on homelessness in both direct service and administrative roles in several American cities and in France. Suzanne holds an undergraduate degree from Goucher College and a MSW from the Jane Addams College of Social Work at the University of Illinois - Chicago. She is deeply committed to the human rights to health care and housing. Suzanne lives in Los Angeles. 

NEW RESOURCE - 

Maintaining Solidarity with the Street and with Each Other: A Guide to Street Medicine Practice in Cities with Multiple Programs

As we approach the 18th International Street Medicine Symposium in Toronto this September, we thought it would be a good time to provide some background on our annual meeting. Around 2004, I was approached by a funder who wanted to support the replication of the “Operation Safety Net model” of street care. Although not entirely unique, it was one of only a few programs truly committed to full time medical street work. The first other program I learned about was Calcutta Rescue under the leadership of Dr. Jack Preger in India. When I visited Jack in December of 1993, the experience was an epiphany. I will never forget the feeling of realizing I was not alone. Prior to that, I thought I might be the only physician crazy enough to provide medical care under bridges. Even though Pittsburgh and Kolkata were radically different, the same forces of exclusion and the same passion for social justice were obvious. Not long thereafter, I learned of the Boston Healthcare for the Homeless program and the pioneering work of Jim O’Connell and his colleagues. After visiting them on street rounds, I knew this was a new field of medicine – even if it did not yet have a name.