×
X logo

Today's breaking news and more in your inbox.

I'm interested in (please check all that apply)

You may opt-out anytime by clicking "unsubscribe" from the newsletter or from your account.

Street Medicine Innovator Applauds Wheeling Outreach Effort

From accompanying his father on house calls to practicing street medicine among the homeless, Dr. Jim Withers sees a common thread of connecting to people where they are.

Withers, founder of Operation Safety Net in Pittsburgh, visited Wheeling this month to observe and offer a critique of the Wheeling-Ohio County Health Department’s Project HOPE (Homeless Outreach Partnership Effort).

Project HOPE is a collaboration of medical, nursing, social work, pastoral care and other health care professionals who serve together on the street and in homeless shelters in Wheeling. They provide basic medical care, food, water, clothing, follow-up appointments and information on agencies and services.

An internal medicine specialist and teaching physician, Withers was accompanied by two medical students as they met with Dr. William Mercer, county health officer and founder of Project HOPE, and others involved in homeless outreach.

After a luncheon meeting at Wheeling Hospital with Mercer, community representatives and Wheeling Mayor Glenn Elliott, Withers spoke in the hospital’s auditorium to doctors, residents and nurses from Wheeling Hospital and residents from Ohio Valley Medical Center.

“I feel the vibes are good here. With everyone from the different agencies, the coalition, the mayor’s office, the hospital, that’s a really good sign that people have come together,” he commented.

Withers then visited several social agencies and practiced street medicine during stops on the riverfront and at homeless encampments along Wheeling Creek. He ended the visit by touring shelters that provide temporary accommodations for homeless people.

“There’s a lot of good collaboration going on here,” Withers said, as he surveyed a team of community volunteers delivering food and supplies and checking on occupants of a campsite near 20th Street. He noted that in Wheeling, as in Pittsburgh, street medicine teams work to get people into services.

At this particular campsite, Withers was introduced to one of Project HOPE’s successes — a woman named Mary who was moving into a furnished apartment on Wheeling Island in a couple of days. Mary, who lived previously at Short Creek, said she had been staying at the camp since March. The camp, an open area amid heavy vegetation, was outfitted with a couple of tents, a handful of lawn chairs and a small charcoal grill.

“It’s nice to see people getting into housing,” Withers said, after chatting with Mary.

The Pittsburgh physician said he enjoyed meeting with community leaders and medical representatives and learning about resources available in the Wheeling community. “Most important, I got to do some street rounds,” he added.

“I’m really impressed,” Withers commented. “Wheeling may be a little smaller, but Pittsburgh and Wheeling have a lot of similarities in terms of terrain and culture.”

His visit included stops at Youth Services Systems, Greater Wheeling Coalition for the Homeless, House of Hagar Catholic Worker House, Soup Kitchen of Greater Wheeling, Wheeling Health Right and Catholic Charities Neighborhood Center. After talking with homeless people at Heritage Port and at two camps near 20th Street, Withers toured Northwood Health System’s homeless shelter and the Salvation Army’s shelter.

Mercer said 10 to 15 volunteers visit the camps and shelters. Typically, he said, they see one to seven homeless people at Heritage Port, seven to 12 people at the camps, six to 10 people at Northwood’s shelter and six to 10 people at the Salvation Army. The team also visits the Winter Freeze Shelter in the Hazel Atlas Building.

At the homeless camps, Mercer and team members drop off bagged lunches prepared by the Soup Kitchen and bottled water, food, insect repellent and garbage bags purchased through donations at East Wheeling stores. At each stop, Mercer offers every person his signature, symbolic treat — a roll of Life Savers candy.

•••

In the lunchtime discussion between Withers and Wheeling representatives, topics ranged from housing and social services to mental health and medical care, the need for job training and counseling, and problems of panhandling.

Mercer, who accompanied Withers on street rounds in Pittsburgh in February, told community leaders, “We’re trying to learn from him (Withers) … This is a great day for Wheeling.”

Withers appreciates regional support for improving the lives of the impoverished and homeless. People living on the streets or under bridges are “largely stigmatized,” have experienced considerable trauma and “don’t always represent themselves well,” he observed.

“I think we have a positive influence,” Withers said. “Our value system is not coercive … Harm reduction and affirmation and being present with people, allows us to help people.”

Asked about public perception of panhandlers, he said, “I don’t have any magic bullets to deal with panhandling.”

Mercer said Project HOPE tries to discourage panhandling and help people get into services. “We try to build a relationship. That takes a long time … They’re not able to break that cycle yet,” he said. “We don’t want them panhandling. That’s the bottom line.”

Through Operation Safety Net, Withers said, “We come and establish these deep relationships. We’re never going to give up on them.”

An “us and them” divide exists between the homeless and the law enforcement and medical communities, Withers said. “They (the homeless) see the negative side of the health system judging them, treating them roughly … We’re judging each other from a distance … We have to reweave our community. It’s not a quick fix.”

Regarding panhandling, Elliott said, “My interest is obviously what’s best for the community.”

The mayor said the city’s begging ordinance, enacted in the 1960s, is unconstitutional.

Lisa Badia, executive director of the Greater Wheeling Coalition for the Homeless, cited a need for a day labor program and for training to teach job-related skills.

Withers said, “There are people who are really ready for a job.” However, he added, other people “have a lot more deficits,” including traumatic brain injury, post-traumatic stress disorder, intellectual disability and mental health issues, that make finding and keeping a job difficult. “We do need to provide work opportunities that are realistic,” he said.

•••

Speaking to resident physicians and other medical professionals, Withers said, “We’re all in this together. We’re all connected. What happens to folks that are down and suffering is connected to us.”

Operation Safety Net is Pittsburgh Mercy Health System’s medical and social service outreach program for the unsheltered homeless population in Allegheny County, Pa. Since its founding in 1992, Operation Safety Net has reached approximately 10,000 homeless individuals with more than 68,000 visits where they live and has helped more than 1,400 individuals to find housing.

Withers, a humble, soft-spoken man who was recognized by CNN’s Heroes program in 2015, said modestly, “I’m just an internist trying to be a family physician.”

He related that as a child growing up in Pennsylvania, he accompanied his father, a family physician originally from Fairmont, on house calls. “We would just sit and be people. He was connecting with them,” Withers recalled.

“Going to people where they were was certainly a theme that I loved and embraced,” he remarked.

Years later, while practicing at Mercy Hospital in Pittsburgh, he said, “I felt that there needed to be accountability in my own community as a teaching physician.”

After meeting victims of domestic violence in shelters, he found that “we weren’t seeing them for who they were … There was a lot of judgment and push-away from the problems.” He realized that “being able to connect with someone’s realities and troubles was more important to me.”

He said, “The sickest patient in our health care system was the hospital. It’s a thought disorder when you deny the reality of the people you’re trying to help … The system dehumanizes not only the patient but also dehumanizes us.”

Withers wanted the health care system to be accountable and get outside its own reality. He decided to launch a pilot program to meet people living under bridges in Pittsburgh and “actively start to treat people like human beings.”

As he made plans to go onto the streets, a man who took blankets and other items to the homeless offered Withers two pieces of advice: Don’t dress like a doctor. Don’t act like a jerk.

“You definitely need to be in listening mode when you go to help someone else,” he said. “Many more people were staying outside than I realized. Everyone had their own story.”

He remarked, “That stethoscope can get you in the doors of people’s lives. They hate the health system, but they still want care.”

Withers said, “I became a street doctor. I had to learn to embrace who I was. A lot of that was built on trust. You can’t promise what you can’t deliver.”

Street work involves providing medical care and getting people into mental health programs and social services. “We have become a home care service. We have this amazing potential to close up the gaps for this population that no one can get to. We can become the bridge between the street world and all the other folks in a good way,” he commented.

For Operation Safety Net, he said, “Students and residents have always been a key component.” With a fluid, reality-based classroom, “it’s really a transformative experience,” he said. “At the end of rotation, people will have things they’ll carry for life.”

A street medicine network is being built around the world. Programs exist in Morgantown, Columbus, Cleveland and Boston and in India, China, Russia, Denmark, Czech Republic and Nigeria.

The first international street medicine symposium convened in Pittsburgh in 2005 to share experiences and best practices, he said. The 12th conference will take place in October in Geneva, Switzerland. The International Street Medicine Institute, which organizes the symposia, was formed in 2009 and adopted the motto of Hospital Albert Schweitzer in Haiti: “Go to the people.”

NEWSLETTER

Today's breaking news and more in your inbox

I'm interested in (please check all that apply)
Are you a paying subscriber to the newspaper? *

COMMENTS

Starting at $4.73/week.

Subscribe Today