New Exam Room at Wheeling Homeless Shelter Offers Hope and Healing
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People who are homeless and need medical treatment now have another location designed to help them obtain better health care.
Project HOPE, along with community partner Salvation Army, opened its newest patient examination room inside the Salvation Army's homeless shelter at 140 16th St. The group held a ribbon-cutting ceremony and allowed the public to tour the new room.
Crystal Bauer, director of Project HOPE and a registered nurse, said when Youth Services System implemented an exam room at another YSS facility that looks like a doctor's office, their patient load went from about six people twice a month to upwards of 40 people a month.
"It's very nice. … We have intake forms where we get their health history, we take their vital signs, we get a lot of information to help us figure out what health issues they have and how we can help going forward," Bauer said. "We have an amazing team. … We could not do what we do successfully if we didn't have all the people that come out and around with us -- the many doctors, nurses, respiratory therapists, nursing assistants … so it's not just us, we might be the face of the program but the real work is put on by the rest of our team."
Bauer leads the medical team along with Dr. William C. Mercer and Thomas G. Wack Jr. They work to create relationships by dispensing medical care with compassion and respect while maintaining patients' dignity, the group said.
"It's very exciting for us to have this dedication today," said Murphy. "It's nice to know that little Wheeling, West Virginia, they know about us throughout the world and how we're trying to help our homeless population."
Project HOPE, a program of the Wheeling-Ohio County Health Department, is a collaboration of medical, nursing, social work, pastoral care and other health care professionals who serve together on the streets and in the homeless shelters of Wheeling. They provide basic medical care and coordinating medical and social services for patients. The group's mission is to ensure equal access to medical care for unsheltered men, women and children in the community, bridging the gap between the homeless and the health care system through direct street outreach.
The fully-equipped exam room will allow the medical professionals of Project HOPE to examine patients in a safe, comfortable and private environment.
The exam room is the latest addition to the team's existing network of exam rooms. Other rooms are located in the Northwood Health System's homeless shelter, Catholic Charities Neighborhood Center and Youth Services System's Winter Freeze Shelter.