2013 International Street Medicine Symposium to be Held in Boston October 24-26!

amandadew — Mon, 06 May 2013 17:33:51 +0000

International Street Medicine Symposium IX

October 24-26, 2013 in Boston, Massachusetts

May 1, 2013

Exciting News!

The Street Medicine Institute is excited to announce the 9th annual International Street Medicine Symposium, to be held in historic Boston, Massachusetts on October 24-26, 2013, with a special pre-symposium “Street Medicine 101” workshop on October 23rd for interested participants. The Boston Health Care for the Homeless Program, widely regarded as one of the world’s largest and most effective homeless health care programs, has generously agreed to serve as a local sponsoring organization.

Learning Activities

The International Street Medicine Symposium is the world’s premiere educational event dedicated to the health care of unsheltered or “rough-sleeping” homeless populations. As always, the Symposium will offer a slate of homeless health care experts from around the globe presenting clinical topics, innovations, research outcomes, and best practices relevant to Street Medicine. The popular format mix of large-group lectures, small-group workshops, and poster presentations will be back again after positive reviews from last year’s Symposium. Additionally, there will be ample exposure to the talented clinicians and administrative staff of the Boston Health Care for the Homeless Program with scheduled site visits to the program’s renowned clinical facilities, including the Barbara McInnis House medical respite program. We hope to offer CME credits for eligible clinicians again this year.

Host City Spotlight

Street Medicine clinicians and administrators from around the world have long regarded the Boston Health Care for the Homeless Program as a leader of the Street Medicine movement; many of the field’s most important research outcomes and clinical innovations have come from the talented clinicians and staff at BHCHP. The program’s extensive network of clinical services across the spectrum of homelessness and seamless integration into Boston’s world-class academic mental centers and health sciences educational institutions stands as an international model for comprehensive, continuous, and high-quality health care programming for persons experiencing homelessness.

In addition to its status as a homeless health care hub, Boston was chosen to host this year’s Symposium for its unrivaled combination of metropolitan beauty, history, international accessibility, and diversity. And there is no better time to visit Boston than late October, when the New England fall foliage season is at its spectacular peak!

Reconnect and Re-energize

As consistently reported by past participants, one of the most valuable experiences of the Symposium is the opportunity to interact with Street Medicine colleagues from across the country and around the world. Again this year, program activities will incorporate time to reconnect with old friends, make new contacts, and share stories of the triumphs and challenges of this important work. Participants will be inspired and re-energized as they renew a common commitment to improving the lives of their brothers and sisters living on the streets.

Call for Presenters

Presentation proposal submissions are being accepted until May 31, 2013. Please visit www.streetmedicine.org for additional information about the presentation proposal guidelines and submission process.

Registration

Details to be announced soon at

www.streetmedicine.org…

Venue

Details to be announced soon at

www.streetmedicine.org…

Lodging

Details to be announced soon at

www.streetmedicine.org…

Program Schedule (preliminary and subject to change)

Wednesday, October 23, 2013; 1:00 pm – 5:00 pm
• Special pre-Symposium “Street Medicine 101” workshop for interested participants (see below for full description)

Thursday, October 24, 2013; 8:00 am – 5:00 pm
• Local sponsoring organization presentations including welcoming keynote address
• Panel discussion highlighting topics of local expertise
• Service agency site visits for participants (transportation provided)
• Box lunch included
• Evening reception included

Friday, October 25, 2013; 8:00 am – 5:00 pm
• Invited presentations (large-group lecture/discussion format)
• Keynote address (internationally-renown speaker with core Street Medicine values)
• Invited presentations (small-group, interactive workshop format)
• Poster session
• Continental breakfast and buffet lunch included

Saturday, October 26, 2013; 8:00 am – 12:00 noon
• Invited presentations (students)
• Poster session
• Street Medicine Institute update
• Symposium wrap-up with reflection and discussion
• Continental breakfast included

Pre-Symposium “Street Medicine 101” Workshop

Back by popular demand, we are pleased to again offer this special pre-Symposium half-day workshop on Wednesday, October 23rd. This high-yield introductory session is targeted to those individuals and organizations who may be new to Street Medicine or in need of expert guidance to launch or grow their Street Medicine activities. This workshop will provide a brief overview of the history and practice of Street Medicine followed by a unique opportunity to interact with an expert panel of Street Medicine practitioners for individualized advice and problem solving. Since capacity for this special session is limited and high demand is anticipated, participants must register in advance to attend. To best meet needs, the panel asks that participants prepare the following materials and submit them for review at least two weeks prior to the workshop:
• Description of current Street Medicine practice status or future plan
• Prioritized listing and brief explanation of active or anticipated challenges to be addressed
• Specific educational goals for the session

Message from the Chair:

On behalf of the Street Medicine Institute and the International Street Medicine Symposium Committee, I thank you for your interest and for sharing this notice with any friends and colleagues who may not have received it. As always, your ideas for a successful Symposium are most welcome, including recommendations for speakers, topics, or formats. Questions, comments, and suggestions about the Symposium can be addressed to the committee chair at pperri21@gmail.com.

With your participation and expertise, this will be a truly outstanding event! I look forward to seeing you in Boston this fall so that we can continue to learn from one another and renew our commitment to improving the lives of our brothers and sisters living on the streets throughout the world.

Sincerely,

Pat

Patrick J. Perri, MD
Chair, 9th annual International Street Medicine Symposium
Chair, Board of Directors, Street Medicine Institute

2013 International Street Medicine Symposium Call for Presenters

amandadew — Mon, 06 May 2013 17:30:58 +0000

International Street Medicine Symposium IX

October 24-26, 2013 in Boston, Massachusetts

May 1, 2013

Exciting News!

The Street Medicine Institute is excited to announce the 9th annual International Street Medicine Symposium, to be held in historic Boston, Massachusetts on October 24-26, 2013, with a special pre-symposium “Street Medicine 101” workshop on October 23rd for interested participants. The Boston Health Care for the Homeless Program, widely regarded as one of the world’s largest and most effective homeless health care programs, has generously agreed to serve as a local sponsoring organization.

Information about registration, venue, and lodging, and the preliminary program schedule will be available soon at www.streetmedicine.org.

Call for Presenters

The International Street Medicine Symposium Committee is pleased to extend an open invitation for presentation proposal submissions. While we are particularly interested in exploring themes related to continuity and coordination of care across the spectrum of homelessness, streets-to-housing interventions, and integration of Street Medicine programming into local hospitals and academic institutions, submissions in any topic area related to the health care of unsheltered homeless populations are welcome. Street Medicine providers and related organizations are encouraged to submit proposals for one of the following three presentation format categories:

A. Lecture (35 min. large-group presentation + 10 min. discussion)

This format is well-suited for the dissemination of new/updated information relating to the field of Street Medicine, review of clinically-pertinent innovations and best practices, and reporting of outcomes data from field research or interventions. Research-oriented submissions may be work-in-progress. Encouraged topic areas include, but are not limited to:

Socio-environmental determinants of health (environmental threats, health care access, housing access, community building, advocacy)
Morbidity, mortality, and vulnerability assessment
Acute disease diagnosis and management
Chronic disease management and quality of care measures
Integrated management of common complicating co-morbidities (mental illness, substance abuse/addiction, and traumatic brain injury)
Comprehensive primary care and outreach models that foster continuity and coordination of care across the spectrum of homelessness (streets, shelter, hospital, respite, housing)

B. Workshop (60 min. interactive, small-group presentation)

This format is well-suited for the sharing of practical knowledge, skills, and personal/professional/organizational enrichment strategies by presenters with particular expertise in any of these or other relevant topic areas:

Creative patient engagement and motivational strategies designed to reduce barriers and enhance care access for the most marginalized individuals, especially those suffering from severe mental illness, personality disorders, addiction, or deep-seeded distrust

Medical education and training approaches related to homelessness, including curriculum development and implementation, educational resource networking, and faculty mentoring of student-led organizations

Initiating and nurturing relationships between service organizations and local hospitals, academic medical centers, and educational institutions

Creating effective inter-agency and inter-disciplinary collaboration with respect to service, advocacy, and consumer involvement

Fundraising approaches, skills, and resources relevant to Street Medicine practices

Maintaining care access and quality during times of financial and/or political constraint

Ethical challenges commonly encountered in providing care to unsheltered homeless populations

Prevention of burn-out among clinicians and service agency staff

C. Poster (scientific poster format with dedicated viewing time)

This format is well-suited for clinical vignettes, highlighting program development/updates, description of service models, or exhibition of medical education approaches to service learning and outreach. Students and student organizations are particularly encouraged to submit in this format category, though non-students are also welcome to submit poster presentation proposals. (Students are not limited to this format category and may submit in a different category if more appropriate). Depending upon scheduling constraints, there may be an opportunity for selected posters to be presented orally as well.

All proposals submitted will be reviewed and judged by a panel that includes members of the Symposium Committee and other invited experts. Reviewers will evaluate proposals for presentation based upon the following three criteria:

1. Specific written learning objectives (active voice preferred)

2. A maximum 500-word abstract describing the presentation content, approach, and intended format (lecture, workshop, or poster). Abstracts will be judged relative to achievement of the following goals:

a) Target Audience – How appropriate is the topic for an audience of clinicians, outreach workers, service agency representatives, and community stakeholders dedicated to improving the health and well-being of unsheltered homeless populations?

b) Innovation – How novel is the information or approach in addressing a problem related to the health care of unsheltered homeless populations?

c) Impact – How potentially beneficial are the findings, interventions, or programs to the care of patients/clients, development of services, training of providers, or sustainability of programs?

d) Applicability – How accessible and generalizable are the findings, interventions, or programs to other practice sites around the world?

e) Knowledge Advancement – How valuable is the information or approach to the growing body of Street Medicine knowledge and clinical expertise? Have data/findings been collected, analyzed, and presented in a rigorous and scholarly way?

f) Mission Advancement – How substantially does the information or approach promote/advance the values and vision of the Street Medicine Institute and International Street Medicine Symposium?

3. Adherence to submission guidelines:

a) Submissions must include current title, degree(s), and institutional/organizational affiliation and role for all presenters. A brief bio-sketch of presenters is welcome if available. The primary presenter should be listed first, followed by any co-presenters if applicable.

b) Submissions must include contact information for the primary presenter including e-mail, phone, and mailing address.

c) Submissions must be in Word document or PDF format.

d) Submissions must be e-mailed to pperri21@gmail.com.

e) Submissions must be received by 12:00 am EST on May 31, 2013.

For lecture or workshop proposals selected for presentation, the primary presenter will receive a stipend of up to $750.00 (US) to help defray (documented) travel and lodging expenses incurred by that presenter only. For student poster proposals selected for presentation, the primary student presenter will be eligible for a limited number of travel/lodging stipends of up to $600.00 (US). In addition, for each proposal accepted for presentation regardless of format category, the primary presenter and one co-presenter (if applicable) will be exempted from any relevant registration fees. Submitters will be notified of the review committee’s decision on or before June 7, 2013. Questions about the Symposium or proposal submission process can be addressed to the committee chair at pperri21@gmail.com.

Pasco County, Florida Mobile Unit and the International Street Medicine Symposium in the news!

amandadew — Mon, 22 Oct 2012 17:00:58 +0000

NEW PORT RICHEY –

Local leaders say they obtained valuable advice while attending an international symposium in Salt Lake City that will benefit Pasco County’s mobile medical care unit.

Commissioner Pat Mulieri, who paid her own way to the September meeting in Utah, met Jim Withers, the Pittsburgh physician regarded as the “father of street medicine” programs for homeless people.

“He is truly my hero,” Mulieri said. “He was the catalyst for (the Pasco) program. He has been working with street people since 1992. His enthusiasm, caring and dedication has not wavered.”

Shanna Shea, a case manager for the Pinellas-Pasco Public Defender’s Office, is helping coordinate the mobile medical van from the West Pasco Government Center.

“I think the most impressive part in Salt Lake City … is the collaboration of agencies,” Shea said. Three agencies there had applied together for a grant. The trio of groups coordinates referrals of clients.

Click here to read the full article!

8th annual International Street Medicine Symposium in Photos!

amandadew — Tue, 16 Oct 2012 15:01:27 +0000

Kaiser Commission: Medicaid and the Uninsured

amandadew — Wed, 26 Sep 2012 17:04:42 +0000

Kaiser Commission: Medicaid and the Uninsured.

Executive Summary: Executive Summary

Full Report: Full Report

RadioActive! Street Medicine

amandadew — Thu, 09 Aug 2012 17:24:14 +0000

RadioActive! July 16 Street Medicine

SALT LAKE CITY, UT (KRCL) - Street Medicine is the return of the universal practice of bringing doctors to patients in need rather than bringing patients to medical facilities. It’s mission is to provide care for those living and sleeping on the streets. Drs. Bob Withers and Patrick Perri join us for the hour to discuss vision to provide healthcare and insure that patients never die while homeless. www.streetmedicine.org © Copyright 2012, krcl.

Listen to the radio show here.

Street Medicine: It May Be Just What the Doctor Ordered

amandadew — Thu, 09 Aug 2012 17:19:41 +0000

Street Medicine: It May Be Just What the Doctor Ordered

07.18.2012 by KCPW

(KCPW News) People experiencing chronic street homelessness suffer a massively disproportionate burden of poor health; in the US, they die nearly thirty years earlier than their peers, usually from preventable and treatable chronic conditions.

Drs. Jim Withers and Pat Perri, leaders of the Street Medicine Institute, say the service of resource-poor individuals is an opportunity to expose the very health care delivery weaknesses that put us all at risk for poor care and high costs, and street medicine strategies could serve as a model to promote healing for patients, providers, and the health care system as a whole.

Sponsored by the Fourth Street Clinic, Withers and Perri delivered a lecture, Street Medicine: It May Be Just What the Doctor Ordered at the Salt Lake City Main Library on July 17, 2012. Listen to a podcast of the event here

Street Medicine: How Doctors are Helping the Homeless in Their Communities

amandadew — Wed, 13 Jun 2012 17:21:23 +0000

At the 2012 conference for the National Health Care for the Homeless Council this past May in Kansas City, Mo., a woman walked up to the registration desk and told the group that she had recently spent time on the streets. She told them that whenever she got access to a computer during that period, she would go to their Web page and look at the staff’s photographs. Those faces reminded her there were people out there who cared.

Providing comfort only skims the surface of what the NHCHC and similar groups do for the homeless. In “street medicine,” also dubbed “suitcase health care,” providers take their health services directly to the streets.

The practice began as a handful of lone wolf physicians walking the streets decades ago. Organized programs began popping up in the late 80s and early 90s as a response to the increasingly visible issue of homelessness, now estimated to affect two to three million people annually. About one-third of the homeless don’t receive health care through free clinics or hospitals, according to Dr. Patrick Perri, chair of the board of directors of the Street Medicine Institute.

Perri said his group knows of 84 structured street medicine practices around the world. These groups are funded, sparsely, by institutions like hospitals, departments of public health, nonprofit organizations and universities. The Health Resources and Services Administration funds programs each year as well. Almost 9 percent of HRSA’s $2 billion annual budget is appropriated to healthcare for the homeless, said John Lozier, executive director of the National Health Care for the Homeless Council.

Because copy space is at a premium and homelessness is far from sexy as a news topic, here are some tips about how to sell this kind of story to your editor.

First is the intense humanity of the topic. Perri said homeless people have the highest mortality rate of any group in the nation. The mean age of death for people chronically living on the streets is 47. Yes, 47.

Because we all know that kind of argument, however compelling, doesn’t always fly in a newsroom, here are a couple others. One is money.

Homeless people almost always have complex medical issues and typically have co-existing conditions that include substance abuse and behavioral or mental health conditions. Lozier said they are also three to six times more likely than the general population to have chronic diseases like diabetes and hypertension. They don’t receive proper primary care and over-use emergency rooms, which equals money out of everyone’s pockets. For an example of how one homeless patient cost one county nearly $1 million in safety net care, read Sarah Arnquist’s essay on reporting on homeless health care.

Finally, homeless people can be a good litmus test for a local health system, Perri said. It is such a difficult, challenging population to reach, that seeing how they are cared for can highlight both the flaws and effectiveness in the way care is provided.

If you are able to cover the field of street medicine, Dr. Jan Gurley, a blogger and physician at a clinic for the homeless in San Francisco, offered some tips on how to do it well.

Though it might seem like an obvious statement: be safe. It is easy to find yourself in a compromising situation or let your guard down when interviewing people.

“If someone’s life depends on finding a few bucks before sunset, you don’t want to be the person walking around by a homeless shelter alone with an iPod doing an interview,” Gurley said. She recommends meeting individuals through a program or in a hospital waiting room. If you are going to go to someplace like a food bank line, take someone else with you.

She also cautioned that you may be asked to jump through many hoops to get people to talk with you or to help you connect with homeless people. Providers often are extremely protective of these patients. But they will come through.

While these stories may be challenging, they can also be highly rewarding. “It helps us realize that people experiencing homelessness are not ‘the other’ – they are us and members of our community,” Perri said. “It becomes our problem and not their problem.”

To read the original article, click here!

NHS hospitals told to do more for homeless

amandadew — Wed, 30 May 2012 13:45:15 +0000

NHS hospitals are being urged to do more to help homeless patients, in a report commissioned by the government.

The report acknowledges that some staff feel that patients’ housing needs are beyond the remit of hospitals.

But it says a more intensive approach to the homeless can cut the cost of them repeatedly turning up as emergency cases.

The NHS Confederation said the problem could not be solved by the health service alone.

The report, by Homeless Link and St Mungo’s, quotes the example of a special team at University College Hospital (UCH) in London which has helped save £100,000.

For the full article, click here!

Street Medicine in Columbus, Ohio from NBC4i

amandadew — Mon, 07 May 2012 18:41:55 +0000

1.		Specific written learning objectives (active voice preferred)
2.		A maximum 500-word abstract describing the presentation content, approach, and intended format (lecture, workshop, or poster). Abstracts will be judged relative to achievement of the following goals:
	a)	Target Audience – How appropriate is the topic for an audience of clinicians, outreach workers, service agency representatives, and community stakeholders dedicated to improving the health and well-being of unsheltered homeless populations?
	b)	Innovation – How novel is the information or approach in addressing a problem related to the health care of unsheltered homeless populations?
	c)	Impact – How potentially beneficial are the findings, interventions, or programs to the care of patients/clients, development of services, training of providers, or sustainability of programs?
	d)	Applicability – How accessible and generalizable are the findings, interventions, or programs to other practice sites around the world?
	e)	Knowledge Advancement – How valuable is the information or approach to the growing body of Street Medicine knowledge and clinical expertise? Have data/findings been collected, analyzed, and presented in a rigorous and scholarly way?
	f)	Mission Advancement – How substantially does the information or approach promote/advance the values and vision of the Street Medicine Institute and International Street Medicine Symposium?
3.		Adherence to submission guidelines:
	a)	Submissions must include current title, degree(s), and institutional/organizational affiliation and role for all presenters. A brief bio-sketch of presenters is welcome if available. The primary presenter should be listed first, followed by any co-presenters if applicable.
	b)	Submissions must include contact information for the primary presenter including e-mail, phone, and mailing address.
	c)	Submissions must be in Word document or PDF format.
	d)	Submissions must be e-mailed to pperri21@gmail.com.
	e)	Submissions must be received by 12:00 am EST on May 31, 2013.