Community Health Nurses around the world: Meeting the Needs of the Homeless

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I am a student nurse in California finishing up a semester about Community Health Nursing. My degree is in Public Health and I wanted to start a discussion to find out what kinds of things community health nurses are doing to meet the needs of the poor or homeless around the world?

I am especially interested in any input from nurses in Canada, the United Kingdom, Norway, Australia, and other countries. Does the type of health system in place in your country seem to make a difference in the way vulnerable populations are cared for?

Any input from anyone with an opinion would be much appreciated.

Thank you,

Bingamac :nurse:

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I share your heart. My goal is to move into midwifery, but with the same focus; serving the overlooked and vulnerable.

I hope to see some experianced nurses chime in!

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I also have interest in this area and look forward to responses!

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Hi Bingamac,

Im an Australian nurse and I work on a mobile clinic that takes to the street and services homeless, vulnerable and marginalised people in our society. We only run a few hours a week but we are funded by the state and commonwealth government and some private donors. Each shift consists of a doctor, registered nurse, an outreach worker and on some shifts, a social worker. We provide most services that are available in a normal general practice and try to be as approachable and accesssible as we can. Most of our consultations are fairly lengthy and our service is free to everyone.

It is an interesting and rewarding second job, and its the highlight of my week!

Andi

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Thanks Andi. I appreciate your response. Sorry it took me so long to respond. I am so happy to hear of the resources available to the homeless and other vulnerable populations. Your job sounds wonderful. I would love to have a second job that was similiar. Thank you for being a welcoming and warm nurse looks forward to helping all individuals in need; Even when it sometimes feels like the hurt of these populations is bigger than any one organization can fix.

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Specializes in A little of this & a little of that.

I worked in a US Federally Qualified Community Health Center. It was my favorite job ever. When I finish my degree, it's where I want to work. Care was provided for anyone requesting it regardless of ability to pay, including undocumented people. There was an outreach program with van for the homeless and one to go out to farms for migrant workers. Also a Ryan White program to serve those with HIV infection. Social workers were available in the building to assist with the many other needs the medically underserved people have. I saw care given that was far better than many private physicians provide. I live in CT, the wealthiest stae in the wealthiest nation in the world. It was an eye opener to find that there are so many who are homeless, uninsured, undocumented and otherwise falling through the huge cracks in our system. I can't imagine how overwhelmed they must ve now with this economy. I left work there about five years ago when the economy was better. Even then, we had to tromp through the woods to get to the homeless camps. I had to go out to try to find families whose children had toxic lead levels but couldn't be contacted. Not to mention tracking down TB patients who failed to show up for their meds. It was challenging, interesting and rewarding. As a caeer choice, I was impressed with the amount of autonomy and respect given to NP's since MD's who want to do this work are scarce. Some are only doing it to get part of their student loans forgiven and don't really have the attitude for the work. Others are totally and passionately devoted to the cause. I applaud anyone who chooses this field.

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