Community Health - Homeless Transitional Housing

Having this rotation during the health care reform debate has been interesting to say the least. In order to better understand what homeless people have available to them at the county level, Trude & I went to the county to check out the services and waiting areas of the local primary care center. More on that eye opener in a bit.

Our community health site is located on a closed air force base. Volunteers of America and the county share responsibility over various work/educational programs affiliated with this transitional housing venue that utilizes what's left over from the abandoned military barracks. Most of the residents are recovering alcoholics, drug addicts, parolees, or simply those down on their luck. There are two sides to the resident program (a singles side and a family side). Trude and I have the single resident students. We go to their community meetings each week and staff clinical office hours.

Our office was an old apartment that had a lot of broken down furniture, bags of old stuff, expired medical supplies and dirt. After we cleaned the place up, Trude managed to get an old exam table and now it looks like a little medical clinic office. We have a locked medicine cabinet with OTC medications, first aid supplies and health education materials.

TNT Tuesdays (Trude & Tam) opened with people getting their BP and blood glucose checked. We have smoking cessation materials, movie nights (coming up) and have set up free teeth cleaning appointments and mammograms. We're always looking for health related materials for our residents.

It's been one of those experiences that started out with a lot of cynicism on my part (lack of available resources, budget cuts) and we're having to reinvent the wheel. Trude's got her creative juices flowing and a sense of optimism to outweigh my cynicism, so we're pulling rabbits out of our hats when we can. When the staff has us speak at the meetings, they refer to us as the 'nurses'. We talk to the residents, counsel them, teach them. Taking a little bit of knowledge and applying it in a dignified manner, respecting each person where they are at. Once again, the patient is the best teacher.

The biggest challenge currently being faced at this site, is the potential closure of the entire program due to a long term, ongoing county budget crisis. We attend the community meetings and have witnessed the despair the VOA staff members are experiencing in trying to convey the latest news to the residents. There is a Board of Supervisors meeting this week. We're going to try and get to the meeting to support the residents.

Now, back to the county health primary care center. The building is relatively new and is easily accessed. What blew me away was how apathetic, rude and mean the staff at the bullet-proof glass windows were. The waiting rooms were empty and the staff looked like they would rather have a root canal rather then be at the window assisting patients. No wonder no one wants to access the county system for health care. What a sad indictment on government run health care. At least the veterans get better care at the VA, currently, the highest rated health care system in the country.