From Hospitals To The Streets: Chicago’s New Approach to Healthcare
As the number of unhoused Chicago residents are consistently around seven thousand people, Chicago has decided to bring a new approach to healthcare: bringing mental and medical healthcare to the streets.
By SERENA YIM
What Exactly Does This Mean?
Chicago launched its first citywide Street Psychiatry program through the Chicago Department of Public Health this past September. Through this program, healthcare workers are called directly to unhoused areas and visit neighborhoods. Specialized teams with a psychiatrist, medical doctor, addiction counselor, licensed social worker, and peer-support specialist offer free or low-priced health screenings, primary care, and substance support.
Why is Chicago Doing This?
Homelessness is not an uncommon occurrence, especially in highly populated cities such as Chicago, New York, and Los Angeles. We see it all the time. So why is Chicago doing this? The neighborhoods in Chicago vary widely, but some neighborhoods have fewer healthcare facilities. Another factor is transportation. While Chicago’s public transportation may be convenient for tourists, it costs money and can therefore cause a delay for people seeking medical care. Having care directly brought to the people who have a hard time receiving it will hopefully allow them a better opportunity to seek the care when they need it.
Benefits
Bringing healthcare to the streets and making it more accessible for people can also encourage people to seek help. In a study about homeless people and substance use, the Illinois Criminal Justice Information Authority reported that substance use is a contributing factor to about thirty-five percent of the homeless population. In addition, repeatedly seeing the same workers who are serving the underserved Chicago communities can help build trust between the homeless population and the healthcare workers. With this trust, those who are trying to get help but are too afraid to ask for help could talk to these workers, who could then set them up with a better resource.
Cost Effectiveness
Could those seeking help sooner rather than later reduce the amount of patients coming into the emergency room and the costs for individuals themselves? According to a Chicago Hospital study that tracked unhoused adults with chronic illnesses or conditions, seventy-three percent of this population reported an emergency room visit over the course of eighteen months. With the homeless population having limited access to healthcare, people experiencing homelessness are about three times more likely to end up in the emergency room because it is the most accessible and easiest access point to find treatment for untreated wounds, illnesses, infections, etc. Not only are emergency room visits expensive, but frequent emergency room visits overload the hospital system. If these issues had been treated earlier, instead of letting them stay untreated and progress to a point where they need immediate medical attention, the number of emergency visits made by homeless people would significantly decrease. Beyond the cost, the emergency department can’t provide a place for the unhoused to go after their visit and fully heal. So was it really worth it to make the trip to the ER?
The Future
What the future holds for these Chicagoans is in question. As this newly released program is finally being put into practice, we don’t know how the homeless population will interact with it. Although we know the homeless population in Chicago is not likely to decrease, programs like these can aid in providing these people with some of the care or motivation they need.
Sources & Further Reading
Illinois Criminal Justice Information Authority. “The Intersection of Homelessness and the Criminal Justice System.” Illinois Criminal Justice Information Authority.
Preidt, Robert. “Program Helps Homeless Cut Use of Emergency Services.” ABC News, 2009.
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