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

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

From all of us at BHCHP, we wish you a happy and healthy 4th of July - we hope that you’re enjoying today’s festivities with your family and friends. Our sincere gratitude to all staff working this holiday and caring for our patients. Thank you!!

Last week, BHCHP’s integrated health care of unaccompanied youth experiencing homelessness was featured on WCVB Channel 5. Two of our AmeriCorps fellows Manuela Arroyave and Mara Quinn, alongside Dr. Aura Obando, medical director of our Family Team, shared how we support the health and social needs of young people who are newly arrived and unhoused in Boston. We hope you have a chance to watch this and learn more about the ways in which we help co-create a sense of home and community for newly arrived migrants experiencing homelessness in Boston. Thank you so much to reporter Erika Tarantal for spotlighting this important story! https://bit.ly/3XIwFPc

Check out this very important piece in the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM Group) on street medicine co-authored by Dr. Dave Munson, medical director of BHCHP’s Street Team. To read, visit nejm.org

Did you know that for many years Boston Health Care for the Homeless Program has welcomed countless visitors from across the country and the globe to learn from our best practices and unique model of care? Our most recent international visitors were 29 fellows from The Equity Initiative of Southeast Asia and China. They received a tour of our primary care, respite care, dental clinic, pharmacy and recovery services at our main facility at 780 Albany Street. The fellows also participated in a panel discussion and learning session with BHCHP senior leadership and staff. They expressed interest in bringing back our best practices to their home countries to care for their underserved populations, specifically around our family team, gender care, harm reduction and behavioral health services, along with our patient advocacy, staff trauma counseling, and more. We’re grateful to these fellows for their interest in delivering the best care to their own underserved population, and are happy to share our 40 years of experience and deep expertise in this work.

Our Summer 2024 newsletter is available now on the website! In this edition, we share key program updates such as the newly established Complex Addictions Treatment (CAT) team in medical respite, relaunch of the HER Saturday clinic, 10th anniversary celebration of the Hep C team and a special highlight on Pam Sprouse, director of BHCHP’s Harm Reduction Services and our amazing harm reduction team! Dr. Denise De Las Nueces, our Chief Medical Officer and Interim CEO writes, “I want to take this opportunity to express my deep gratitude to you—our family of donors—who have supported us so generously in this shared journey with our patients. It is your generosity that allows us to be responsive to health crises and the changing needs of our patients, innovative in creating cutting-edge programs, and present to our patients whether in our clinics, respite program or on the streets. As we approach the 40th anniversary of BHCHP in 2025, I trust that with our collective efforts we will continue to fulfill our important mission.” We hope you’ll enjoy reading this interesting set of articles bringing valuable information and notes from our program to you! https://bit.ly/3xi6Dr5

The 18th annual Sox for Socks returns on Aug 9-11, when the Red Sox face the Houston Astros during the 3-day homestand. BHCHP staff and volunteers will be at Fenway Park to collect donations of new, white socks for our patients. Clean socks are one of the most requested essential items by our unhoused patients who we serve across 30 sites including shelter clinics, respite, hospital clinics and the streets. This simple item helps in maintaining proper foot hygiene which affects overall health and wellbeing. Each year, we’re grateful to partner with the Red Sox Foundation, NESN, Gentle Giant Moving Company and you to collect as many socks as possible. If you’re attending one of the games this August 9-11, please consider bringing new, white socks for our patients. We’d be grateful for your help in sharing this news with others in your network, including friends, family and colleagues. We hope to see you soon at Fenway this August! https://bit.ly/4bOpU2q

Many congratulations to nurse leader Carol Benner on being recognized as an "Excellent Co-Op Employer" by the Northeastern University College of Science. Carol is the Associate Director of Nursing at the Barbara McInnis House, our 104-bed respite program located in the South End where we provide 24x7 respite care to over 1000 adults experiencing homelessness annually. At BHCHP, we feel blessed to work with incredible nursing students who choose to pursue their six-month co-op experience with us. We appreciate the immense help they provide to our workforce as we strive to ensure equitable and dignified access to the highest quality health care among those experiencing homelessness in our city. If you imagine yourself pursuing a career in medicine that matters, serving some of the most vulnerable citizens of our community, and being supported in your career growth by peers and senior leaders, BHCHP is the place for you! We’ve got a variety of inpatient and outpatient roles available – check out the career openings here. https://bit.ly/3Rizz7S