Hard work in better quarters
NOBLE WORK often goes on in weary settings. In cramped quarters amid cinder block walls at the Barbara McInnis House in Jamaica Plain, homeless patients get care for cancer, depression, and other ailments from the medical staff of Boston Health Care for the Homeless. Here and in other nonprofits an unspoken rule prevails: focus on the people, not the surroundings.
Happily, this program broke the rule. It's as if Health Care for the Homeless read a rags-to-riches self-help book. This summer, patients and staff will move to a shiny, new $35 million home on Albany Street.
"This building literally sits in the crossroads of our world," says Robert Taube, the program's executive director. It's near homeless shelters, and across the street from Boston Medical Center. Once the city's morgue, the building now has a glass-walled atrium, blond wood walls, and upbeat, warm paint colors with names such as Lady Finger and Gray Wisp.
Is the building too nice? No, say staffers who want to dispense dignity and respect as well as healthcare to their patients - some of whom sleep under bridges or in ATM vestibules while they battle substance abuse, mental illness, and years of traumatic experiences.
Instead of settling for putting bandages on street people, staffers are bringing high-tech medicine to very poor people, explains Dr. Thokozeni Lipato. "You can get the lab tests that you know you would get for your loved ones," he says. It's an approach that the new building will enhance.
In addition to the McInnis House, the new site will have an outpatient clinic, dental services, and a pharmacy. Two "negative pressure" rooms that prevent contaminated air from escaping will be used to isolate patients who may have tuberculosis or other contagious diseases, helping to keep these illnesses from spreading through shelters.
Staffers will still deliver medical care to people's homes, whether that's a place with four walls or an outdoor approximation. But having the new building makes it easier for more patients to get more seamless care.
The program has to stay current and even run ahead of the medical pack - being able, for example, to care for homeless transgendered patients by establishing trust with them and unflinchingly discussing past sexual histories or prostitution work.
Missing are philanthropists who can help close a funding gap. The program needs to raise $4.5 million by Dec. 31 to win a $2 million challenge grant from the Kresge Foundation. It's a worthy investment. This new site will give Boston's homeless a healthier place to heal. 