PORTLAND STREET MEDICINE
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Mission Statement
Our mission is to be the frontline of improving healthcare of homeless people in Portland.
About This Cause
Formed in 2017, Portland Street Medicine is a coalition of volunteer medical providers, social workers, care managers, and lay people dedicated to reaching out to our most forgotten community members. Our mission is to be the frontline of improving the healthcare of homeless people in Oregon. Our clinic is the streets and our scope of practice is mindfully limited to immediate acute care and essential primary care, addressing clinical priorities, and building trust. While our passion and our focus are street medicine, our ultimate goal is to help people achieve sustained and integrated care. NEED WE ARE ADDRESSING Nationally, Oregon has the 4th highest rate of homelessness and the 2nd highest rate of families without shelter. According to the 2019 Point In Time Count (PIT), 4,015 people experienced homelessness on a single night in February, including people sleeping on the streets, in cars, in shelters and transitional housing, and on the couches of family and friends. Over half – 2,037 people – were unsheltered, a 22% increase from 2017. The PIT tells us more people are experiencing chronic homelessness and a growing percentage are suffering from disabling conditions. They suffer a disproportionate burden of illness and premature death. The life expectancy of a homeless person is a shockingly low 47 years. OUR OBJECTIVES Given the crisis of homelessness and the tremendous barriers to care for people living on the streets, we believe now is the time to grow a sophisticated and coordinated approach to street medicine outreach in Portland. In 2019 -2020 we will build organizational capacity by bringing on paid staff to manage our growing operations and expanded service delivery. STRATEGIES WE USE The clinical care we deliver is fairly straightforward. Our outreach teams are easily identified by the logo on our jackets and stethoscopes around our necks. We carry backpacks with basic medical supplies and medications, and in another bag, we carry comfort supplies (socks, hand warmers, tampons, bus passes). Much of our time is spent providing basic acute care such as treatment for cuts, sprains, wounds, and minor conditions. We also help manage chronic conditions such as high blood pressure or diabetes. We triage conditions requiring immediate treatment and connect patients to same-day services or emergency services, if needed. When we encounter patients with more complex conditions we connect them with specialty care, seeking a coordinated and well communicated hand-off from the street clinician to the clinic clinician. We recognize street medicine cannot be comprehensive primary care by itself. We view our approach as a form of intermediate “home care.” We focus on essential needs and clinical priorities. But in every encounter, we seek to understand the patient’s long-term health needs, we talk about how engagement in care can bring them healing and comfort, and we refer them to vetted clinics and providers we partner with. We help patients take the first steps in the journey to sustained, integrated care, which takes time and trust.