Tracy Kidder follows Dr. Jim O’Connell and the street team of the Boston Health Care for the Homeless Program as they provide medical treatment from a specialized van. The narrative details the logistics of street medicine, focusing on patients who live outdoors and refuse traditional shelters. O’Connell’s practice prioritizes "radical continuity of care," managing chronic conditions like HIV, hypertension, and substance use disorders while navigating the bureaucratic barriers of the American insurance and housing systems. The text documents clinical encounters and the long-term health outcomes of individuals surviving on the city's margins.
This book is for healthcare professionals, social workers, and policy analysts interested in the intersection of public health and poverty. Readers learn about the specific physiological tolls of chronic homelessness and the practical challenges of delivering medicine outside of institutional settings. The book provides a technical look at how a specialized medical nonprofit operates through private and public funding to treat a population that the standard healthcare infrastructure fails to reach. It offers a framework for understanding communal care and long-term medical outreach.
- Published
- 2023
- Language
- EN
