Helping the Homeless

By Rebecca Jones

On a couple of Tuesday evenings a month University of New Mexico medical, nursing, pharmacy and physical therapy students (among others) provide health care and gain valuable clinical experience while treating homeless men at the Albuquerque Opportunity Center (AOC).

“It's a population that's hard to care for,” says physician assistant Lindsay Fox, who oversees the student-led clinic and is a faculty lecturer and outreach coordinator with UNM's Physician Assistant Program.

Given that the homeless population doesn't usually stay in one place for long, it's challenging for the students to make sure the men receive the care they need, Fox says.

But that hasn't deterred these students. In fact, Michael Louie, a fourth-year medical student, along with a couple of other students, has worked on the PCP (Primary Care Provider) Connection, a service for AOC clients who might otherwise have trouble making medical appointments on their own.

The students track down providers and connect them with the clients, who receive temporary housing at the AOC. Some of the men they help are just out of the hospital and living on the street.

“It's given me the perspective that the issues patients have to deal with aren't always medical,” says Louie, who adds that his initial career plan was cardiology. Since volunteering to help the homeless, he now plans on studying internal medicine instead.

‘Learning lab'

“I like to call it a learning lab,” Fox says. The participating students often find out something new about themselves, she says.

The clinic, which has three exam rooms, is guided by Fox. Students are exposed to many specialties they might not otherwise learn about firsthand – palliative care, family practice and internal medicine. On a typical Tuesday, each student might work with as many as 12 clients, Fox says.

On one evening, students examined a man with knee pain who was thinking about quitting smoking. Another client had stopped taking his medication for a long time and wanted help in connecting with a primary care provider.

The AOC, which also collaborates with Healthcare for the Homeless and other local organizations, also helps clients find stable housing.

Learning from each other

Brennan Gibbs, a second-year medical student who is the AOC volunteer coordinator, creates an online signup and emails students who have expressed interest in volunteering.

“Some people come all the time and new faces come around, too,” he says. “It's really all volunteers. Some classes are integrating it into the curriculum.”

Physical therapy student Thy Nguyen says that she was required to volunteer for 48 hours as part of the curriculum. But she's found that helping the homeless is rewarding and she's been showing up on Tuesdays for two years now.

Kara Rechard, a student who helps with the PCP Connection, adds: “It's really fun being part of it, seeing how students keep developing the model. It's always changing. It looks better than when I (was volunteering) four years ago, because now it's interdisciplinary.”

Ellen Hatch, 30, is a third-year medical student in the MD/PhD program. As a seasoned AOC volunteer, first- and second-year students are often paired with her so that they can learn the ropes.

“I did a lot of my early learning here,” she says, adding that when she first started with the program, she examined patients in the library, rather than in the exam rooms now open.

Memories of meeting her first patient at the AOC have stayed with her, Hatch says. “He'd had heart failure and wasn't taking his diuretics because he had nowhere to (go to the bathroom),” she says.

Nguyen says she enjoys making difference in patients' lives. “When I started here, it was intimidating,” she says. “But they're just trying to get back on their feet.”

Upcoming Events

Check out [PDF] a photography exhibit by Ellen Hatch, a third-year student in UNM’s Physician’s Assistant Program, and photographer Tyler Green.

PA students are holding a fundraiser to benefit the student-run clinic at the Albuquerque Opportunity Center. Learn more [PDF].