Boston Health Care for the Homeless Program

Have you spotted one of our recruitment ads on the Orange or Red Lines? We want to make sure our message is loud and clear – we are currently hiring for various clinical and non-clinical positions across the program! If you want to join a mission-driven organization that provides excellent employee benefits and cultivates a strong sense of community at work, this is the place for you. For nearly four decades, we’ve been at the forefront of caring for Boston’s unhoused community and we can’t do this work without our dedicated staff members. Join the BHCHP family and help us ensure equitable access to dignity, hope, compassion, and care for individuals and families experiencing homelessness in Boston. Currently, we’re offering a $4000 sign-on bonus for the following roles: RN, LPN, NP, PA and Behavioral Health Clinicians. Please help us spread the word about recruitment with your own family and friends. Browse open positions and click here to submit your application! https://lnkd.in/eSdmEWfx

Today is National Intern Day! And we want to give a BIG shoutout to our awesome summer interns. Each year, we are blessed to work with incredible students, from local high schools and colleges around the country, who choose BHCHP as their choice of internship site. Whether they commit for one summer or return to pursue a longer stint, their contributions are equally valued and commended by our staff. Here’s a quote from returning intern Vance Boyd who studies at Tufts University: “My favorite aspect of this work is having the opportunity to work directly with patients. Every time I can connect and work directly with someone, I enjoy it... Having the opportunity to engage in people’s lives and learn a bit about them is fun, interesting, and is the most meaningful aspect of this work to me. I have also found myself surprisingly excited by the world of insurance. Massachusetts has one of the strongest Medicaid programs, and having the opportunity to interact with it on this level has been fascinating.” Click here to read an interesting interview and learn what it’s like to intern with BHCHP. https://bit.ly/46lNnWT

Few people come along in life and leave, in their passing, the world a better place for the simple yet profound reason that they were in it. Jack Connors is one of those very few. It is with hearts filled with deep sorrow and enormous gratitude, we at Boston Health Care for the Homeless Program acknowledge both the life and now the grievous loss of Jack. Superlatives are easily and rightly affixed to Jack and how he lived his life – fiercely, tirelessly, creatively dedicated to leaving the world a better place than he found it. Rising up from modest beginnings, Jack assumed in his place of hard-earned privilege that he had no laurels to rest on; there were too many injustices that needed to be corrected, too many problems to be solved, too many people living in want…in a land of plenty. In the most profound sense and possessed with a rare combination of wisdom, wit, compassion, kindness, intelligence, and humility, Jack found his passion and purpose as a true public servant, creating uplifting and practical solutions to seemingly intractable social ills. Jack has been called a “legend”. For us, the promising news today – and the hope for our tomorrows -- is that legends inevitably leave legacies. Jack has left us with lessons that teach and inspire, with strategies and solutions that will endure. And with countless lives—including those of people experiencing homelessness-- changed for the better. We honor our longtime friend and inspiration Jack best by continuing the challenging and just call to serve others that he expected of himself. He now passes the noble torch to us.

As a summer read, we’re doing a book giveaway!! Read below for more details on how to participate – we’re excited to share these two books about the lifesaving work of BHCHP with you. To join the giveaway, you must 1) like this post, 2) comment which one you’d like to read, and 3) follow/like our page. All three steps must be followed to enter your name in the giveaway. Names will be drawn by Wednesday noon. We’ll be giving away 5 copies of "Stories from the Shadows, Reflections of a Street Doctor" (2015) by Dr. Jim O’Connell, our founding physician. It’s a collection of inspiring personal stories and essays, written during 30 years of caring for homeless persons in Boston. We’ll also be giving away 3 copies of "Rough Sleepers, Dr. Jim O’Connell’s Urgent Mission to Bring Healing to Homeless People" (2023) by Pulitzer Prize winning author Tracy Kidder. The names will be randomly selected and we’ll mail the books to you. We can only ship in the United States so if you’re participating from outside, you can mail it to a friend or family in the US. Happy reading and good luck!

Happy summer from the Boston Medical Center (BMC) Healing Pups! These adorable doggies visit us every Thursday and spend quality time with our respite patients and staff who are in need for some wide smiles and cozy cuddles. This week, we saw Nellie (Chihuahua), Memphis (English Bulldog) and Luie (Golden Doodle). With our patients recovering from various health challenges and dealing with the daily struggles of homelessness, the pups bring extra love, comfort and healing to our community. As always, we are incredibly grateful for the Healing Pups for their service and time, helping us create a healthier environment at BHCHP. To read more about this partnership, click here. https://bit.ly/3qBkqWC

Starting today, the City of Boston has declared a heat emergency for the next three days. For people experiencing homelessness, hot weather poses an extreme threat to their survival and wellbeing, especially since they are exposed to the elements without proper cooling and their ongoing health conditions make it harder for their bodies to regulate their temperatures. If you’ve ever wondered what you can do to help someone in need during these times, we highly recommend that you check out the City’s website for guidance and information. https://bit.ly/3WlQH0C Read this article from The Associated Press with important contributions from Dave Munson, medical director of the BHCHP Street Team. Every little bit of help matters and we hope you’ll keep our patients in your hearts as we all go through this period of heat emergency. https://bit.ly/4d4VxFj

We extend our heartfelt gratitude to our 16 AmeriCorps fellows who served with BHCHP from September 2023 till now. They were placed throughout the program at various sites and offered significant contributions to help us deliver equitable and dignified health care to individuals and families experiencing homelessness in Boston. As they venture onto their next steps, be it further studies or work, we wish them the best of luck and look forward to hearing about their accomplishments as future health equity leaders. Curious to know more about what it’s like to serve with BHCHP? Check out this blogpost with reflection notes from five outgoing fellows. https://bit.ly/4ctEDQE

Say hi to Walter, a BHCHP patient who has been visiting our foot care clinic located inside St. Francis House for the last two years. Maintaining proper foot hygiene is essential for people experiencing homelessness and a clean pair of socks can do wonders for their foot and overall health. Join us for the 18th annual Sox for Socks campaign at Fenway Park this August 9-11 where BHCHP will be collecting donations of new, white socks for our patients. Your donated socks will then be distributed throughout our program sites, helping countless individuals and families who are dealing with the various challenges brought by homelessness. To learn more about the sock drive campaign, click here. https://bit.ly/4bOpU2q

With the summer months underway, we are sharing this important infographic from the City of Boston available in multiple languages on the City’s website. Summer heat can pose high risks and dangers for unhoused people – please do not hesitate to call for help when you see someone on the streets in need of medical attention. We hope you all stay cool, hydrated and safe while enjoying the weeks and months ahead. Happy Summer from BHCHP!! 🌻

Many congratulations to our Dr. Katie Koh for receiving the Outstanding Psychiatrist Award for an Early Career Psychiatrist by the Massachusetts Psychiatric Society! Dr. Koh is part of the BHCHP Street Team and provides psychiatry services to our patients who primarily live on the streets, be it in parks, under bridges and elsewhere. She also sees her patients in our clinic located at Massachusetts General Hospital, one of our main hospital partners. Additionally, Dr. Koh is very much involved in various research, advocacy and teaching engagements. If you want to read more about the Street Team, check out this relevant article from a year ago. https://bit.ly/4bCDcOt