Chicago Street Medicine is an interdisciplinary organization dedicated to supporting learner-fueled street medicine chapters throughout Chicago. Since August 2017, CSM has been delivering healing to those experiencing unsheltered homelessness.
"This effort started in the summer of 2016 with three young physicians-in-training, including two UIC medical students and one UIC resident physician, in partnership with The Night Ministry. After one year of piloting this work, CSM was formed by 11 UIC medical students and two resident physicians with funding from the Arnold P. Gold Foundation and the Gold Humanism Honor Society. CSM conducted two to three street runs per month, and trained our new leaders to deliver care on the streets and coordinate their own street runs. Our board was trained by February 2018, and we started expanding our runs to involve more “open-pool” medical students and residents. As word spread about student-fueled street medicine, more medical students from other institutions wanted to get involved. Students and residents from University of Chicago established a chapter after training with our UIC chapter. Medical students from other schools in the Chicagoland area reached out and began training with our UIC chapter as well. Social workers, pharmacists, and occupational therapists wanted to get involved to learn about health and healthcare through the lens of the most marginalized in our society.
We expanded clinicians, professions, disciplines, and patient populations. We began developing intimate relationships with individuals living on the street, and the name, “Chicago Street Medicine,” began to mean compassionate, non-judgemental care. So when homeless persons came into the hospital, they would ask for us. This was the beginning of our informal consult service. We follow our existing patients through their hospital stays, supporting them in their time of vulnerability and seeming imprisonment in the hospital and supporting clinicians to better understand the needs and feelings of the patient."
Street Medicine
"Street medicine started in order to break down barriers faced by patients who are unsheltered and are trying to access the healthcare system. These patients face increased morbidity and mortality as well as stigma in traditional healthcare settings. Street medicine teams in response perform medical outreach wherever the patients are, be it sidewalks, train tracks, under bridges, or in public transportation. These teams are often multidisciplinary and are located all over the world. By meeting patients at their level these teams witness and acknowledge their challenges, support their positive goals, and work to improve their health and wellness."
Source: Chicago Street Medicine