do you know his song for mr. Rogers
neighborhood it’s a beautiful day in the
neighborhood a beautiful day for a
neighbor all right I won’t sing the
whole song but did you ever think about
what he was singing well I think Mister
Rogers had three things he wanted to
share one live in the land of
make-believe when we dream and we should
what does a successful community look
like second thing is look for helpers
there’s a lot of gifted people out there
in our community who want to help still
look for them and the third thing is be
a good neighbor he reminds us that
everybody’s probably going through
something they’re not telling you about
so be a good neighbor to someone who
needs one well when US News and World
Report publishes their best places to
live issue what what are they looking at
how are they measuring community success
well they’re looking at things like job
market average salary and migration well
here’s the thing I contend that we’re
looking at community success all wrong
and I think Mister Rogers was on to
something what if we measured community
success based on how well we cared for
each other
or more specifically how well we cared
for our homeless
well when my kids were five and seven I
was divorced living in Colorado and I
didn’t have family living nearby if it
hadn’t been for the love and support of
my four closest friends I could have
easily lost my job my home and
subsequently my children if I fail to
provide for them I like many Americans
often live just one paycheck away from
homelessness well today I’m very blessed
to be the director of a special medical
practice called street medicine for 15
years I’ve been in the emergency
department and caring I thought
appropriately but I found myself feeling
ineffective when it came to addressing
the social issues that affected my
patients health but street medicine has
allowed me to close that loop and look
at community success differently and
through a different set of lenses so
what does he actually is street medicine
Oh in a nutshell it’s an alliance of
professionals provides free health care
to persons experiencing homelessness
affectionately called street papers by
our team and this core team of four we
have two physician assistants a nurse
clinical coordinator and a community
outreach worker we work closely with a
team of caregivers and we provide four
services one we have clinics and soup
kitchens and shelters we have
consultations with our homeless patients
who are hospitalized to let them know
how we can help them before they’re
discharged we also have medical respite
care a partnership with a local shelter
where we can offer our male patients a
place to recuperate if they’re too ill
to hit the streets but then not ill
enough to say
Hospital and then our fourth service is
my favorite street rounds and that’s
when we go into the community we go
under bridges alleyways into the woods
and we provide health care for our
patients who are too ill to come to our
clinics so tonight I’d like to take you
on straight rounds with me
now while logistically it may be
difficult to get 250 of you traipsing
through the woods with me
I think you can appreciate the journey
from the safety of your chair so let’s
go meet three of your neighbors so the
first neighbor I’d like you to meet is
Pablo he’s an 82 year old Mexican
national and he has served in the Army
Mexican army for years and he’s had a
tough two years he lost his job when he
had his leg amputated secondary to
complications of diabetes he’s had lost
his home and then lost the support of
his family who found it too difficult to
take care of him he’s been living for
the past a year under tarp in an
alleyway across from the church parking
lot for about a year now and luckily
he’s got some community support he has a
little bodega around the corner that
gives him some hot meals every once in a
while and he has two community members
who have not only bought his insulin for
him but they’ve stored it because it
needs to be refrigerated and they’ve
also daily come in tested his blood
sugar and given him his insulin well
tonight they’ve asked us to stop by and
and see how Pablo is doing because he’s
developing a sore on the amputating
stomach and so here we are
see you Pablo
hola Pablo medicina de calle como estas
so after examining Pablo we cleanse and
dress his wound we decided to put him on
some antibiotics and as a special
surprise
he loves this frijoles so we’ll lead
that with him as well and we’ll have his
friends bring him to our soup kitchen
clinic so that we can check up on him
and see how he’s doing with his his
antibiotics so the next neighbour I’d
like you to meet is Rene Rene is 40 and
I met her about five years ago when I
started to work at a local coalition
against sex trafficking at the time I
was teaching graduate physician
assistant students and I was teaching
them about the relationship between
homelessness and sex trafficking in
preparation for a free clinic that we
are holding in a residential home for
sex trafficking victims
so Renee’s story is a tough one as a
child she was sold for sex by a loved
one who was using her to pay for a drug
habit as a result she became a ward of
the state
eventually actually got her GED and went
off to college when she was in college
she got pregnant and dropped out
immediately you see it was actually a
easy decision for her she was told that
for many years she’d never be able to
have children because of all the sexual
trauma she endured as a child so after
having her baby her boyfriend was
incarcerated and she found herself
homeless after probably two three nights
she said of sleeping in the hallway of
an apartment she decided to accept the
help of a man who offered shelter and
food that act of kindness
ended up being a 15-year nightmare a
forced prostitution now when I met Renee
she was just exiting the life of
prostitution and she was still homeless
and really struggling she has a criminal
record and had no transportation and so
she was really struggling and so tonight
we’re actually gonna meet her at the
Dunkin Donuts because she has got a job
interview and she’s looking to have a
soar looked at on the bottom of her lip
that she gets was she’s super stressed
now I actually don’t have the medicine
in my backpack that I need to so I’m
gonna have to call it in to the pharmacy
but I do have feminine hygiene products
which are always appreciated and
actually a little costly so I’ll leave
those with her and then we’ll check in
two days and see how her interview went
so you’ve met Renee now I’d like you to
meet Louise
she’s 52 hard-of-hearing and she’s got
such horribly debilitated arthritis that
she needs a walker to get around well I
met Louise just last week actually she
hospitals security called and said that
there was a woman in the lobby who was
was asking for help at the front desk
and said she was homeless so I went to
meet her and Louise shared with me that
she was living with her daughter and her
daughter took her disability check and
then kicked her out on the streets she
was able to stay in a local shelter but
then that shelter closed prematurely due
to lack of funding so if she finds
herself homeless well in the past week
Louise has lived in a 24-hour retail
store she’s lived in the lobby of her
hospital and on the park bench around
the corner so our team decided while
she’s waiting for her housing let’s get
her set up yeah we have her in a tent
sleeping bag water toilet
and today we’re checking on seeing how
our first night out and the tent was so
she shares that the ground was a little
hard and a knees are a little sore so we
have some tylenol for her so Tylenol
some more water and she’s an avid reader
so I brought her a book so now that
you’ve met three of your neighbors I’m
sure some of you are wondering so how
many how many people do we have in our
community who are actually homeless well
there’s a method that is via an
information system and they count
persons who register for housing and
services well they reported 1380 persons
to be experiencing homelessness between
January and September 2017 unfortunately
that number is actually probably not
counting some very important populations
one they’re not counting persons like
Pablo who are undocumented immigrants
and likely not registering for services
because of fear of deportation to
they’re not counting persons like Rene
who are having survival sex for shelter
because she’s not registering for
services and three it’s not counting
persons like Louise who are staying with
family and friends or couchsurfing and
that’s not counted as one of the chronic
homeless so the number of persons
experiencing homeless is actually far
worse than we ever imagined
there’s study done in 2015
surveyed three area emergency
departments and found that seven percent
of the persons we’re experiencing
homelessness
that number equates to nine thousand two
hundred persons and that’s just in three
departments just in one hospital network
and only english-speaking patients is
this the kind of community that we want
to live in well did they even see the
movie 2009 Avatar – creatures thin blue
well there’s a really terrific line in
that that’s when Zoe Saldana has just
saved Sam Worthington ‘s life and he’s
being held in her arms and she looks up
at her and he says I see you well I’m a
bit of a geek when it comes to word
phrase origins and I looked up what that
meant the significance of that and I
found that there’s a South African tribe
and their greeting is Sawa Bona which
means I see you and the response to that
is secona which means I am here so when
you put that together when you see me
you bring me into existence isn’t that
inherently what we all crave to be seen
well I have to be honest with you
in order for us to do this heartbreaking
work day after day in street medicine
our team has had to redefine success
sometimes you can’t help our patients
manage an addiction or help them get
into a shelter bed so we have to be ok
with knowing that they that they feel
loved so I have a challenge for you and
I’d like you to think about how you’d
redefine your community success you
already have the playbook mr. Rogers
gave it to you one live in the land of
make-believe we have to be able to think
of innovative ways to care for our
homeless – you have helpers whatever
your sphere of influence you have the
ability to see your neighbor and bring
him/her into existence and three be a
good neighbor there is a delightful nun
her name is sister Mary Luca naki and
she did some pretty impressive work in
Erie Pennsylvania is most vulnerable
neighborhoods and she said frankly there
isn’t anyone that you couldn’t learn to
love once you’ve heard their story and I
couldn’t agree more thank you
neighborhood it’s a beautiful day in the
neighborhood a beautiful day for a
neighbor all right I won’t sing the
whole song but did you ever think about
what he was singing well I think Mister
Rogers had three things he wanted to
share one live in the land of
make-believe when we dream and we should
what does a successful community look
like second thing is look for helpers
there’s a lot of gifted people out there
in our community who want to help still
look for them and the third thing is be
a good neighbor he reminds us that
everybody’s probably going through
something they’re not telling you about
so be a good neighbor to someone who
needs one well when US News and World
Report publishes their best places to
live issue what what are they looking at
how are they measuring community success
well they’re looking at things like job
market average salary and migration well
here’s the thing I contend that we’re
looking at community success all wrong
and I think Mister Rogers was on to
something what if we measured community
success based on how well we cared for
each other
or more specifically how well we cared
for our homeless
well when my kids were five and seven I
was divorced living in Colorado and I
didn’t have family living nearby if it
hadn’t been for the love and support of
my four closest friends I could have
easily lost my job my home and
subsequently my children if I fail to
provide for them I like many Americans
often live just one paycheck away from
homelessness well today I’m very blessed
to be the director of a special medical
practice called street medicine for 15
years I’ve been in the emergency
department and caring I thought
appropriately but I found myself feeling
ineffective when it came to addressing
the social issues that affected my
patients health but street medicine has
allowed me to close that loop and look
at community success differently and
through a different set of lenses so
what does he actually is street medicine
Oh in a nutshell it’s an alliance of
professionals provides free health care
to persons experiencing homelessness
affectionately called street papers by
our team and this core team of four we
have two physician assistants a nurse
clinical coordinator and a community
outreach worker we work closely with a
team of caregivers and we provide four
services one we have clinics and soup
kitchens and shelters we have
consultations with our homeless patients
who are hospitalized to let them know
how we can help them before they’re
discharged we also have medical respite
care a partnership with a local shelter
where we can offer our male patients a
place to recuperate if they’re too ill
to hit the streets but then not ill
enough to say
Hospital and then our fourth service is
my favorite street rounds and that’s
when we go into the community we go
under bridges alleyways into the woods
and we provide health care for our
patients who are too ill to come to our
clinics so tonight I’d like to take you
on straight rounds with me
now while logistically it may be
difficult to get 250 of you traipsing
through the woods with me
I think you can appreciate the journey
from the safety of your chair so let’s
go meet three of your neighbors so the
first neighbor I’d like you to meet is
Pablo he’s an 82 year old Mexican
national and he has served in the Army
Mexican army for years and he’s had a
tough two years he lost his job when he
had his leg amputated secondary to
complications of diabetes he’s had lost
his home and then lost the support of
his family who found it too difficult to
take care of him he’s been living for
the past a year under tarp in an
alleyway across from the church parking
lot for about a year now and luckily
he’s got some community support he has a
little bodega around the corner that
gives him some hot meals every once in a
while and he has two community members
who have not only bought his insulin for
him but they’ve stored it because it
needs to be refrigerated and they’ve
also daily come in tested his blood
sugar and given him his insulin well
tonight they’ve asked us to stop by and
and see how Pablo is doing because he’s
developing a sore on the amputating
stomach and so here we are
see you Pablo
hola Pablo medicina de calle como estas
so after examining Pablo we cleanse and
dress his wound we decided to put him on
some antibiotics and as a special
surprise
he loves this frijoles so we’ll lead
that with him as well and we’ll have his
friends bring him to our soup kitchen
clinic so that we can check up on him
and see how he’s doing with his his
antibiotics so the next neighbour I’d
like you to meet is Rene Rene is 40 and
I met her about five years ago when I
started to work at a local coalition
against sex trafficking at the time I
was teaching graduate physician
assistant students and I was teaching
them about the relationship between
homelessness and sex trafficking in
preparation for a free clinic that we
are holding in a residential home for
sex trafficking victims
so Renee’s story is a tough one as a
child she was sold for sex by a loved
one who was using her to pay for a drug
habit as a result she became a ward of
the state
eventually actually got her GED and went
off to college when she was in college
she got pregnant and dropped out
immediately you see it was actually a
easy decision for her she was told that
for many years she’d never be able to
have children because of all the sexual
trauma she endured as a child so after
having her baby her boyfriend was
incarcerated and she found herself
homeless after probably two three nights
she said of sleeping in the hallway of
an apartment she decided to accept the
help of a man who offered shelter and
food that act of kindness
ended up being a 15-year nightmare a
forced prostitution now when I met Renee
she was just exiting the life of
prostitution and she was still homeless
and really struggling she has a criminal
record and had no transportation and so
she was really struggling and so tonight
we’re actually gonna meet her at the
Dunkin Donuts because she has got a job
interview and she’s looking to have a
soar looked at on the bottom of her lip
that she gets was she’s super stressed
now I actually don’t have the medicine
in my backpack that I need to so I’m
gonna have to call it in to the pharmacy
but I do have feminine hygiene products
which are always appreciated and
actually a little costly so I’ll leave
those with her and then we’ll check in
two days and see how her interview went
so you’ve met Renee now I’d like you to
meet Louise
she’s 52 hard-of-hearing and she’s got
such horribly debilitated arthritis that
she needs a walker to get around well I
met Louise just last week actually she
hospitals security called and said that
there was a woman in the lobby who was
was asking for help at the front desk
and said she was homeless so I went to
meet her and Louise shared with me that
she was living with her daughter and her
daughter took her disability check and
then kicked her out on the streets she
was able to stay in a local shelter but
then that shelter closed prematurely due
to lack of funding so if she finds
herself homeless well in the past week
Louise has lived in a 24-hour retail
store she’s lived in the lobby of her
hospital and on the park bench around
the corner so our team decided while
she’s waiting for her housing let’s get
her set up yeah we have her in a tent
sleeping bag water toilet
and today we’re checking on seeing how
our first night out and the tent was so
she shares that the ground was a little
hard and a knees are a little sore so we
have some tylenol for her so Tylenol
some more water and she’s an avid reader
so I brought her a book so now that
you’ve met three of your neighbors I’m
sure some of you are wondering so how
many how many people do we have in our
community who are actually homeless well
there’s a method that is via an
information system and they count
persons who register for housing and
services well they reported 1380 persons
to be experiencing homelessness between
January and September 2017 unfortunately
that number is actually probably not
counting some very important populations
one they’re not counting persons like
Pablo who are undocumented immigrants
and likely not registering for services
because of fear of deportation to
they’re not counting persons like Rene
who are having survival sex for shelter
because she’s not registering for
services and three it’s not counting
persons like Louise who are staying with
family and friends or couchsurfing and
that’s not counted as one of the chronic
homeless so the number of persons
experiencing homeless is actually far
worse than we ever imagined
there’s study done in 2015
surveyed three area emergency
departments and found that seven percent
of the persons we’re experiencing
homelessness
that number equates to nine thousand two
hundred persons and that’s just in three
departments just in one hospital network
and only english-speaking patients is
this the kind of community that we want
to live in well did they even see the
movie 2009 Avatar – creatures thin blue
well there’s a really terrific line in
that that’s when Zoe Saldana has just
saved Sam Worthington ‘s life and he’s
being held in her arms and she looks up
at her and he says I see you well I’m a
bit of a geek when it comes to word
phrase origins and I looked up what that
meant the significance of that and I
found that there’s a South African tribe
and their greeting is Sawa Bona which
means I see you and the response to that
is secona which means I am here so when
you put that together when you see me
you bring me into existence isn’t that
inherently what we all crave to be seen
well I have to be honest with you
in order for us to do this heartbreaking
work day after day in street medicine
our team has had to redefine success
sometimes you can’t help our patients
manage an addiction or help them get
into a shelter bed so we have to be ok
with knowing that they that they feel
loved so I have a challenge for you and
I’d like you to think about how you’d
redefine your community success you
already have the playbook mr. Rogers
gave it to you one live in the land of
make-believe we have to be able to think
of innovative ways to care for our
homeless – you have helpers whatever
your sphere of influence you have the
ability to see your neighbor and bring
him/her into existence and three be a
good neighbor there is a delightful nun
her name is sister Mary Luca naki and
she did some pretty impressive work in
Erie Pennsylvania is most vulnerable
neighborhoods and she said frankly there
isn’t anyone that you couldn’t learn to
love once you’ve heard their story and I
couldn’t agree more thank you
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