Abstract
Homelessness impacts over 550,000 individuals in the US, of which includes almost 10% military veterans. More than 20% of the homeless suffer from severe mental illness and nearly 40% are alcohol or drug dependent. The financial impact on hospital services is financially staggering. The intent of the workshop is to describe our multi-disciplinary multi-agency approach towards developing a successful Street Medicine outreach team focused on serving those experiencing homelessness and/or addiction. We believe that outreach teams can be cultivated to meet the specific needs of each community, and we will demonstrate that our model can be reproduced in other sites. Our program is centered in a community-based free clinic which integrates Family Medicine residents with medical and behavioral health providers, local police, non-GMO food service providers, graduate and undergraduate medical education programs, as well as many lay volunteers. Presentation outline: