They are getting more than they bargained for… in a good way

By Dennis Archambault

It may not be what they signed up for. But maybe it’s that and more.

Residents in the Authority Health teaching health center program looked to their Detroit experience as offering an opportunity to learn primary care medicine at the community level. They were drawn to a program that emphasizes population health and trains them in trauma-informed care. Most of them want to work with the underserved in their medical practice. Among the most vulnerable – the homeless.

These physicians weren’t thinking that they would be playing a critical role in primary management of the CORVID-19, but for some, it meant stepping out into the community and conducting assessments and screenings among the homeless population through an initiative organized by Central City Integrated Health and Authority Health.

As ironic as it may seem a population that lives a degree of social distance and isolation, doesn’t have a safe place to go to avoid the contagion, or to be quarantined. Try washing your hands regularly on the street. There are 2,231 people determined to be chronically homeless in the City of Detroit, according to the Detroit Homeless Action Network’s most recent report (https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5344557fe4b0323896c3c519/t/5d8106a6b87890058943840c/1568736936423/2018+State+of+Homlessness+Annual+Report+for+the+Detroit+CoC.pdf). However, that number could have been as high as 10,744 people, if you consider temporary homelessness. This is a population that is aging and represents a population with compromised health.

Trading their white lab coats for white infection control moon suits, the residents, who are in non-critical clinical rotations, are conducting screening among homeless clients of CCIH and Salvation Army under the direction of Dr. Ernie Yoder, director of Medical Education. “We are supporting Central City Integrated Health (CCIH) in setting up a system to address the needs of homeless and folks in various shelters,” Dr. Yoder explained. He is coordinating the service of Authority Health residents with Dr. Kim Farrow, CEO of CCIH and her medical staff. The collaboration will create a process to assess, screen, and provide care and observation for people in various homeless settings. The goal is to recruit and train collaborators.

Teams will go out in mobile units to shelters. One or more containment centers will be established for those at risk or under quarantine.

“I think this is a really good thing for us, in our safety net role.”

All residents, whether they’re serving in critical clinical rotations or have an opportunity to serve the homeless, will experience an aspect of primary community health that they didn’t bargain for, but will pay them in dividends of experience.

Dennis Archambault is vice president of Public Affairs for Authority Health