Students from Arizona State University, the University of Arizona and Northern Arizona University have teamed up to create Arizona’s first student-run health clinic for the homeless.
Student Health Outreach for Wellness, or SHOW, along with Central Arizona Shelter Services and the Maricopa Integrated Health System, hosted the inaugural Health Fair for the Homeless at the Human Services Campus in Phoenix.
In May 2013, students from the three universities formed the program with a goal of finding a new way to give free and comprehensive health care to Arizona’s vast homeless population.
Approximately 28,000 adults and children experienced homelessness in Arizona during 2013, according to the Department of Economic Security, and SHOW has been working to help as many of those people as possible.
Currently, there is a clinic Mondays through Fridays on the Human Services Campus called Health Care for the Homeless. The students will operate that clinic on Saturday mornings beginning in October, and expect to extend services for the entire day later on. The student volunteers will be supervised by health-care professionals and university faculty members.
The fair held Saturday offered many health services from multiple organizations and community partners volunteering their time.
Services included medical exams, blood-pressure tests, dental care, heat relief, HIV tests, nutrition information, pregnancy tests, tobacco awareness, immunizations and even music therapy –- all of which, and more, will be available at the regular Saturday clinic.
Alex Gojic, a graduate student at ASU in the Science of Health Care Delivery program, was one of SHOW’s first members. Gojic said the goal is to lessen the gap in care for the homeless on the weekends.
“Our focus is providing free primary care to the homeless out of an existing homeless shelter,” Gojic said.
Gojic said the normal Health Care for the Homeless hours are Monday though Friday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., like a typical doctor’s office. And with the student-run weekend hours, education will also play a part.
“We’re going to try and do some community outreach and health education –- simple things like Zumba classes and book clubs,” Gojic said. “Anything a student would like to offer and the community would need, we’re all for it.”
The clinic is also open to more than just those who are physically without homes.
“We define homelessness as anybody who is under stress or hardship,” Gojic said. “They may have a home, but they may be extremely low-income and we’ll still see them. Anybody who needs care is who we’re trying to help.”
Jane Ly, a second-year medical student at U of A, said while some people may be prejudiced against the homeless, the clinic welcomes everyone with open arms.
“Everybody who comes to us is a patient and we don’t judge people. We are here to take care of them,” Ly said.
Ly also expressed her gratitude toward SHOW’s partnership with the existing clinic.
“We’re really lucky to have our association with Healthcare for the Homeless and the Human Services Campus because they’ve already been here serving the population and they already have their trust,” she said.
ASU kinesiology senior Eneida Shqalsi became a member of SHOW when she decided she wanted to learn more about health outreach.
Shqalsi said she became passionate about helping the homeless after she took a class called Health Behavior Change last semester and her professor told her that poverty is the single most influential determinant to health.
“Homelessness is a condition, not an identity,” Shqalsi said, “and our mission is to provide a very holistic client-centered health care, because health isn’t just doctor and nurse.”
Shqalsi says she has high hopes for what the student-run clinic can achieve when they collaborate and work as a team.
“When you get a bunch of people working together with one passion and one cause, everything kind of falls into place,” she said. “And because everyone has such a unique background and unique skill set, we all need to work together.”
Shqalsi and Gojic also said SHOW is always recruiting new students and community volunteers and that anybody with a passion for helping others and their community can get involved, even if they are not a health or medical student.
Patricia Sandoval, the community health advisor for Maricopa Integrated Health System, said she was humbled and honored to be a part of the health fair.
Sandoval said she has over 14 years of experience in health outreach and marketing.
“The need to help the homeless is so great and we need more people stepping up to the plate to help them,” Sandoval said. “We have to try to do something to get them off the streets, not only because they can be hurt, but because we need to get them the health services they need.”
Sandoval, whose family experienced homelessness for a brief period of time several years ago, is determined to get the message out about why this effort is so crucial.
“I talked to a few of the people getting help here today and I asked them how they were doing,” Sandoval said. “Getting by — that was the answer. And I’m thinking to myself, good Lord, I’m going to leave this event and go home to my nice house with my kids and my husband. The participants here are going to leave this event and go out to the street. And that’s devastating.”
Sandoval also asks that local businesses find it in their hearts to help the homeless in a way that the students and health-care professionals cannot.
“I think these small businesses need to open up their doors and offer them a job, even if it’s just stocking shelves,” she said. “These folks need to get back on their feet and if somebody does not open up their doors to them they won’t be able to do it.”
And she believes the community needs to do its part as well.
“The community can help by donating clothing and food or giving money to our local shelters so that they’ll have more financial stability to be able to assist these people in need,” Sandoval said.
But most importantly, Sandoval says that it is important to not be afraid of the homeless community.
“People are afraid because a lot of them are dressed very poorly and are really dirty, but that’s not their fault,” she said. “When the shelters are full they have nowhere to go.”
She asks that people ponder what life would be like as a homeless individual and how they would want to be treated if they were in such a situation.
“I wish people would open up their hearts and open up their eyes to the reality of what’s going on around them,” Sandoval said, “These are our brothers and sisters.”
Contact the reporter at jasmine.barta@asu.edu
