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Every Saturday morning, the Miami Street Medicine team heads out from Jackson Memorial Hospital for their street run, providing free mobile healthcare services to homeless people.
It’s part of a larger group, Dade County Street Response, which also includes a free clinic called Doctors Within Borders, a disaster relief team and a mental health crisis line.
Miami Street Medicine teams of paid staff and medical school student volunteers aren’t just bandaging cuts and handing out aspirin. They’re performing intake on patients with tablet computers and offer follow-up visits for chronic conditions. They’re working with specialists like dermatologists, neurologists and cardiologists.
One challenge is the transient nature of homeless people, which makes it difficult to provide continual care. Dr. Armen Henderson, founder of Dade County Street Response, said the problem is compounded by laws that target homeless people.
Another challenge is fighting the common sentiment that providing services actually increases homelessness, Henderson said.
“There’s nothing that encourages people to be unsheltered. No one wants to be unsheltered. So, by offering services like this, we’re actually trying to ease people’s suffering. When people come in here, they want to get off the street. They want to figure out a plan.”
Members of Miami Street Medicine have noticed more people losing their homes in recent years as prices increase and wages remain stagnant. Dr. Inaki Bent, who oversees street medicine teams, said he’s also seen an increase in undocumented migrants on the streets as the state and federal governments have expanded immigration enforcement this year.
In addition to the individual benefit to patients, providing medical treatment on the street and at the group’s clinic prevents treatable conditions from becoming emergencies that ultimately strain the entire healthcare system. For example, Bent had a patient who had previously been treated for seizures at an emergency room and received a prescription, but couldn’t afford it. The patient would have eventually ended up back in the ER, but Miami Street Medicine paid for his medicine.
This article was provided by The Associated Press.