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Project Homeless Connect (PHC) is a wonderful program for the homeless in San Francisco. It is amazing how many services are offered at the events for people to utilize. The available services include access to housing, shelters, medical services, and legal advice. The clients seemed to be grateful to have a program such as Project Homeless Connect and it is great to hear that some former clients have found a way to re-assimilate into the community and they are now able to be volunteers themselves and give to others what PHC has given to them. I especially appreciate that PHC offers not just services, but also opportunities to the clients so that they may be able to get back on their feet. For instance, clients could inquire on how they can find employment. I was glad to see that the service of rehabilitation and detox for addiction was available by PHC. It is not easy to break an addiction, but if the clients decide to actively seek help, then PHC is there to aid them in their journey. I do not believe that PHC will reinforce homelessness, because it is only offered every couple of months and that is not often enough for a person thrive on. - HV

Dear Project Homeless Connect Team, I am student at USF, who volunteered at the Project Homeless Connect in February. I greatly appreciate the wonderful services that were provided for everyone. I believe that it is very helpful for people who can’t afford proper health care. I was escorting everyone to their destination in the auditorium. While I was escorting, it gave me a chance to meet different types of people with many different health needs. At times, I felt that too much needed to be done in the limited amount of time. Many people wished to get many services done in one day, but the lines were too long. The housing service was a great help to many of the homeless clients. Overall, Project Homeless Connect was a great place to receive free care. If I had a choice to pick between clinic with regular hours or Project Homeless Connect, I would choose a regular clinic, because it will allow me to spend more time with patients and also be able to do follow-up appointments. I only have been in nursing program for a couple of months, but I have already noticed the importance of privacy and therapeutic communication. I believe if we want to help someone to get better, we should be able to do a follow-up, in order to allow health professional to evaluate their interventions. Follow-ups are required until treatment has succeeded and the patient has returned to their normal functions. When a patient actually realizes that their health is improving, they will eventually return to the clinic to complete their treatment. I really believe that if the problem doesn’t get resolved, then we haven’t met our goal as healthcare professionals. Therefore, we need to work towards a goal that will solve the problem completely. Student, Carry

Sal Dali It seems to me that the question on hand should not be whether Project Homeless Connect ameliorates or reinforces homelessness, but rather: Is this an adequate way to provide healthcare and other services to an underprivileged part of our society? We should focus our time on what Project Homeless Connect achieves and how it comes across. The experience that I was offered was one never to be forgotten. Having worked with this population before, I was quite excited to be there. I was immediately impressed with immensity of this undertaking; the Bill Graham Auditorium packed with services just for the homeless is a striking sight. There are a handful of organizations throughout the Tenderloin and San Francisco, that offer free or sliding scale healthcare services. On some levels, these services get used extremely well, but, at the same time, they don’t. There are many reasons that would prevent someone from wanting to, or being able to get services at our free clinics when they need them, for instance, people could have a hard time getting appointments. Many people need services immediately and when they reach out, they are given an appointment date for several weeks later. If they need some form of emergency services, they are lucky if they receive a free token to ride the bus to SF General. For one reason or another, most of those who do get appointments have a hard time showing up or following through at the right time. At project homeless connect, there is no right or wrong time as long as you make it there on the right day: almost everyone will be able to see a healthcare provider if they need help. Most importantly, there is a broad spectrum of services being offered, which is very impressive. There are nurses, doctors, podiatrists, obstetricians, HIV rapid testing, food, clothing, psychiatric services, identification services, housing services, and much more. I feel this is a great way to reach out to the homeless, because all of this is under one roof. In the clinical world, providing these services for someone could take weeks—with multiple appointments and several different locations. I commend Project Homeless Connect for making this whole process easier. It is great that a person can have so many needs met all in one place; I saw many people taking advantage of this. I talked to many people at the health fair that were very excited to be there and looked forewords to taking advantage of as many services as they could. There were also those that were just trying to get out of the rain for the day. Should this type of health care be offered to everyone? Probably, not. Health care should have more than one dimension. For many, going having a primary care provider works well. They make an appointment, they show-up, and they follow through. This has been a proven model. But there are many that the traditional healthcare model doesn’t help, as noted earlier. Project Homeless Connect is a new form of healthcare, or at least new to us in San Francisco, which uses a great system that is catering to the needs of those that have a harder time getting these services elsewhere. It is quite an innovative idea for this demographic. It is quite appropriate that we use this type of system and it has been long in the making. I hope in the future that healthcare evolves more and that this type of comprehensive care can be offered more often. Although I don’t know exactly what it takes to pull off a project like Project Homeless Connect, I can only imagine how complicated it is. For that, I take my hat off, especially to those that have probably spent hundreds of hours to ensure that this model works well. Judging by the quality of care that I saw, coupled with the excitement of those that were to receive it as well as the excitement of those providing, I walked away with the feeling that this model is really helping the clients. So when I asked myself: “Does this ameliorate or reinforce homelessness?” I couldn’t help but think that the question should be: “Is this helping people become healthier?” When I asked myself that, I thought, yes, this is really helping homeless people in more ways than one. Not only does this project help people with health-related issues, but it also lets many less fortunate people feel and know that they are important, and that many sincerely care about them and their wellbeing. I felt extremely proud to have been able to participate in this event, even if it was only on a basic level. I felt that all levels of participation are needed to make this event work properly. I can’t wait to participate in Project Homeless Connect again and look forward to being able to be a part of this helpful process.

Volunteering with Project Homeless Connect was a great experience. This program offers assistance with housing, legal issues, health care, and many other basic needs to the homeless population. I played a role in assisting clients by giving directions and escorting them to the areas where they were able to get food, services, and whatever else they needed. In return, they were very grateful for the assistance that was provided to them on my behalf. Today, the challenges that we face are substantially greater than those of the past. The lack of affordable housing, health insurance cutbacks, reduced public assistance, and unaffordable are all contributing factors to evident increase in the homeless population. Thus, homeless individuals struggle even more on a daily basis with the repercussions of unmet basic needs for security, shelter, and stability. That is why Project Homeless Connect is there to reach out for the basic needs of the homeless population. It is a program that increases access to services for the homeless people and to engage local communities in finding solutions for homelessness. Moreover, it displays broad community support to those who are homeless. If I had the opportunity, I would choose to work for Project Homeless Connect rather than a regular clinic for every two months. I believe that this program puts more emphasis on getting things done in one day, unlike a regular clinic. In addition, I would have the wonderful opportunity to work for people, who wish to receive the proper care. Finally, I would definitely want to work with the Project Homeless Connect again if I ever get the chance to. I felt so committed and dedicated in assisting the homeless clients. I felt as if I made a positive difference in the lives of the homeless men, women, and children. It was truly a pleasure and I would love to serve again.

I had the great pleasure of working at Project Homeless Connect (PHC) with my classmates from the USF nursing program. In our capacity as Client Support Escorts, we greeted, checked in, and escorted clients to their first appointment of the day. I found the experience both humbling and exhilarating. Most often a homeless person on the street is someone to walk around and not engage with. By interacting directly with the homeless population of San Francisco, your perceptions are challenged and, in this case, I can say the outcome was positive. It is humbling to be reminded how fortunate I am to live the life that I do and not have to take the food and shelter I have for granted. Because we are nurses in training, it is exhilarating to be out of the classroom and doing something tangible to enhance our experience towards the goal of nursing. We were surrounded for the entire day by positive examples of what a nurse can do, especially in the arena of public health nursing. Does offering free under-one-roof comprehensive services reinforce or ameliorate homelessness? This question is a tough one. My personal belief is that homelessness is a reality and a serious public health concern. Because of that, PHC plays a vital role in keeping our city and county a safer place. So…I answer the question with a resounding YES it does ameliorate homelessness, it makes something unsatisfactory better. According to the PHC website, over 2,000 people attend the February event and used the services provided. To me that is truly amazing. The experience was so positive that it has made me rethink about my current goal of becoming an emergency room nurse and further explore public health nursing. It is impossible to sum up the experience any better than what another volunteer said: “The show of people gathered together in a harmony of selflessness, talents, motivations, and trust is a reason to go to PHC.” The ability to see the assistance in overwhelming numbers shows what we can accomplish together. Thank you Professor Cuttler, USF nursing administration, and PHC personal for letting us contribute to this amazing event. I had the great pleasure of working at Project Homeless Connect (PHC) with my classmates from the USF nursing program. In our capacity as Client Support Escorts, we greeted, checked in, and escorted clients to their first appointment of the day. I found the experience both humbling and exhilarating. Most often a homeless person on the street is someone to walk around and not engage with. By interacting directly with the homeless population of San Francisco, your perceptions are challenged and, in this case, I can say the outcome was positive. It is humbling to be reminded how fortunate I am to live the life that I do and not have to take the food and shelter I have for granted. Because we are nurses in training, it is exhilarating to be out of the classroom and doing something tangible to enhance our experience towards the goal of nursing. We were surrounded for the entire day by positive examples of what a nurse can do, especially in the arena of public health nursing. Does offering free under-one-roof comprehensive services reinforce or ameliorate homelessness? This question is a tough one. My personal belief is that homelessness is a reality and a serious public health concern. Because of that, PHC plays a vital role in keeping our city and county a safer place. So…I answer the question with a resounding YES it does ameliorate homelessness, it makes something unsatisfactory better. According to the PHC website, over 2,000 people attend the February event and used the services provided. To me that is truly amazing. The experience was so positive that it has made me rethink about my current goal of becoming an emergency room nurse and further explore public health nursing. It is impossible to sum up the experience any better than what another volunteer said: “The show of people gathered together in a harmony of selflessness, talents, motivations, and trust is a reason to go to PHC.” The ability to see the assistance in overwhelming numbers shows what we can accomplish together. Thank you Professor Cuttler, USF nursing administration, and PHC personal for letting us contribute to this amazing event.