Those living on Albuquerque’s streets need medical attention and connection to services just like anyone else. One of the most effective ways to forge a lasting connection with the vulnerable population is through street outreach: Setting up in areas of the city where those experiencing homelessness tend to congregate.
Street outreach initiatives are also important to prevent unnecessary visits to urgent care centers and emergency rooms, which can also be an unwelcome and intimidating experience.
“When we go to people, if you notice, we’re sitting in chairs. I mean, this looks like a barbecue,” Lindsay Fox said. “We have a big tent in the summer.”
Fox is a physician’s assistant and lead coordinator of the University of New Mexico’s street medicine team, part of the School of Medicine. It includes physicians, nurses, physician assistants, nurse practitioners and other clinicians who have expertise in treating patients with complex and often severe physical and mental needs.
“In the medical field we say ‘come to our clinics, come to our hospitals.’ Here, we’re sitting with them on the streets,” Fox said. “We honor the patient where they are.”
While there wasn’t food on a grill at Tuesday morning’s “Connect-to-Care” pop-up near HopeWorks in Downtown, it had the vibe of an informal and relaxing gathering of friends.
Members of the street medicine team worked fluidly with personnel from Albuquerque Community Safety’s (ACS) own street outreach crew. Within an hour, about 20 clients had been seen for medical issues and were connected to services or made aware of what’s available.
After an assessment and some old-fashioned conversation, an older woman was gently placed into an ACS vehicle.
“She’s blind; she was trying to get to HopeWorks,” Fox said. “Today was the day she decided she’s gonna quit drinking. We’re here when you’re ready. It was cool that we got somebody the help they needed.”
ACS transported the woman to the CARE Campus — Bernalillo County’s detox facility located in the International District.
The collaboration between UNM and ACS has, by all accounts, been a success. The street medicine team takes care of stitches, prescriptions, wound cleaning, mental health assessments and more; while ACS connects people to housing, food, opioid prevention and education and transportation to shelters and other services.
But the need across the city outweighs what’s currently on offer.
“How do I say this? We need to expand,” Fox said. “But we have to expand in a way that’s patient-centered. We have to be able to continue to be able to provide care like this, right here with the patient.”
UNM’s street medicine program got off the ground in 2022 through donations, and in 2023 it was also a donation that funded the purchase of two vehicles outfitted with special medical equipment. Fox’s experience in street medicine began in 2012.
“Going out on the streets, I started realizing there’s a lot of folks that need help, but we just don’t have a system that helps,” she said. “Meeting people, that’s the whole street medicine philosophy.”
Albuquerque Health Care for the Homeless and First Nations Community HealthSource also have street outreach initiatives.
“We all have to bring all of our skill sets — APD, ACS, UNM — to really approach this with cultural humility, with compassion, with equity,” Fox said. “If you look at life expectancy, the greatest risk that you face as a human being, the worst health consequence is no longer obesity, it’s no longer coronary heart disease, it’s being unsheltered.”
For information on how to donate, click here. For more on ACS’s street outreach initiatives, click here.