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National Health Care for the Homeless Week
The National Health Care for the Homeless Council has designated
March 21 through 26 as Health Care for the Homeless [HCH] week.
This nation-wide effort hopes to increase support for HCH programs
and help counter the growing epidemic of homelessness. The theme
is Saving Lives, Building Community. In over forty communities nationwide,
agencies that provide health care services to homeless people conducted
events to feature their work.
New York City is home to the second largest population of homeless
people in our country. The New York City Providers of Health Care
for the Homeless [PHCH] is a coalition of the federally qualified
HCH health centers operating in New York City. PHCH released its
first publication, Health
Care for Homeless New Yorkers to coincide with Health
Care for the Homeless week. Health Care for Homeless New Yorkers
tells the stories of how PHCH agencies have affected the lives of
twelve clients, written in their own words.
PHCH was honored by City Councilman and Chair of the Committee
on the General Welfare Bill de Blasio, who proclaimed March 21 -26,
2005 as National Health Care for the Homeless week in New York City.
HCH Week events ranged from official recognition by the cities
of New York, Denver and Seattle, to receptions marking twenty years
of existence for some HCH projects; health fairs in shelters; adding
a new mobile medical van; sock drives and foot care events. Other
New York City events included a presentation on HCH at a membership
meeting of the Council on Homeless Policies and Services by CFH
Executive Director Bobby Watts; a socks drive and a concerted patient
education effort by William F. Ryan Community Health Center; and
the addition of a podiatrist to the HCH team at Saint Vincent’s
Catholic Medical Centers of New York - St. Vincent’s Manhattan,
Department of Community Medicine, a presentation on HCH from a booth
in a heavily traveled area of the hospital, and numerous health
education events and workshops will be offered at outreach sites.
See the National
Health Care for the Homeless Council website.
HCH programs were enacted by Congress to address the inextricable
link between health and homelessness. The basic tenet of HCH programs
is to make services easily accessible to individuals and families
that are often estranged from the health care system or find the
barriers to accessing traditional health care resources insurmountable.
Our programs include an aggressive approach to outreach, engagement
in medical and behavioral health care, and linkage to social and
supportive services. By focusing on establishing an on-going health
care resource, our programs keep homeless people from unnecessary
reliance on emergency room care. More importantly we help homeless
people become healthy and stable, and ready to assume and sustain
responsibility.
Health Care for the Homeless (HCH) projects provide primary care,
substance abuse treatment, mental health care and other services
to over 600,000 persons annually. As many as 3.5 million Americans
experience homelessness each year.
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