How a Miami healthcare group is meeting homeless patients where they live

Category: (Self-Study) Health

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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 and video were provided by The Associated Press.

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[Miami Street Medicine team on their Saturday morning run]

[Team member speaking with homeless man]

[Taking blood pressure]

Inaki Bent (interview): “This is the Miami street medicine team. We are basically a nonprofit that services the medical needs of the homeless and unsheltered populations here in Miami. So we’re here this morning doing our morning run.”

[Dr. Bent talking]

[Man receiving eyeglasses]

[Blood sugar measurement]

Inaki Bent (interview): “If they have any issues, we’ll take the history, check their vitals, blood pressure, glucose, and then whatever their specific need is, we will address.”

[Homeless man walking]

[Man receiving cream]

[Woman walking]

Inaki Bent (interview): “It’s the same protocol as if you were walking into my doctor’s office. We try to allow them a little privacy. We get their chief complaint. We do a focus history and physical exam, and then we address those needs that are needed at the time.”

[Bandaging a finger]

[Homeless man]

[Homeless man getting check]

Inaki Bent (interview): “Doing this service here helps free up the log jam that we see in many of our emergency rooms. We are able to prevent readmissions.”

[Cream being applied to a foot]

Manuel Guilarte Rodrigues (interview): “The students from the college and university, they come over here to check on our blood pressure and ask if you have any medical problems [and] they’re willing to take us to the hospital and give us some assistance over there.”

[Man walking into Doctors Within Borders free urgent care clinic]

Floyd Thompson (interview): “I could always come here, and it’s always open. They never turn nobody down. Don’t care what the situation [is], the way how you look, you speak, or nothing like that. It doesn’t turn nobody away.”

[Homeless man speaking with a doctor]

Armen Henderson (interview): “There’s nothing that encourages people to be unsheltered. No one wants to be unsheltered. It’s hot outside. People’s sandals are melting into the street because it feels like greater than 100 degrees outside. No one want to live in standards like this. So by offering services like this, we’re actually trying to ease people’s suffering of being on the street. And what we find is that when people come in here, they want to get the services. they want to get off the street; they want to figure out a plan.”

[Homeless people on a street]

[Miami Street Medicine team]

[Homeless person sleeping on a sidewalk]

[Homeless man]

[Street]

This script was provided by The Associated Press.