The medics offering healthcare to homeless people 'no questions asked'

Healthcare is often pushed aside by homeless people struggling to survive. This service aims to change that In short: Street Side Medics is expanding to the ACT after opening in Sydney and Melbourne, offering healthcare to people who are homeless or in danger of being so. The team of volunteers provides medical services like any GP, including supporting mental health and developing relationships with individuals. What's next? Chief executive Nic Brown hopes to expand to other locations beyond Civic and is asking for other services to reach out if they want to partner with them. For the team behind Street Side Medics, the service comes down to an "exceptionally simple idea". Founder Daniel Nour wanted to provide healthcare to people in insecure housing situations who are often too preoccupied with basic daily struggles to seek out medical attention. But there are still barriers. "I think that there's some distrust that will still take us time to work on," Dr Nour told ABC Radio Canberra. "The system potentially has burnt some people and there is a level of trust that takes time to build." Dr Nour said there were many reasons for people's reluctance to seek out healthcare, including financial barriers, Medicare status, previous negative experiences, stigma and embarrassment. "Inevitably at times they're more concerned about where they're sleeping, what they're eating, shelter, companionship, and not why they're short of breath or not why their stools might be brown or black." 'Huge sense of gratitude' Street Side Medics has already been providing care in Sydney and Melbourne and is starting to expand to other jurisdictions. It partners with other organisations, including those addressing the need for food and shelter. The team includes a general practitioner, nurses, allied health professionals and volunteers. Anyone can access the service, regardless of name, status or living arrangements. Dr Nour said they had soft-launched in Canberra, prior to their official opening this week, and he had already seen some positive impacts. "For the people that we're treating, there's a huge sense of gratitude that there is now a service dedicated to them on their terms,"he said. He said the fact that they were made up of volunteers was key to the success of the enterprise. "Every doctor that is there on any given night or nurse or health professional is doing it because they truly care," he said. "They want to see an improvement in the lives of some of our most vulnerable Australians." The service has received unanimous support from governments, and Dr Nour said many Australians were "doing it a little bit tougher in the current climate". "Accessing health care services can be challenging for any one person, let alone really if you have some barriers that limit you." Helping an 'invisible population' Sarah Peters is a doctor with the mobile clinic and said she saw it as a "great opportunity". "I'm someone that's volunteered overseas in the Australian Aid Volunteer Program and I think it's really important to remember that there's need in our own backyard and there's an invisible population here that really need access to care," she said. "And for me, as somebody who cares about women's health, I know that there's a lot of intersectionality between people suffering and not being able to see a doctor when they need it." Dr Peters said the program was not only free, but took a "no questions asked" approach to patient care. "Particularly for those in homeless or insecure housing situations, we will attend to any medical need," she said. "We'll take their blood, send them for investigations, refer them as required, give them medication, give them support." Canberra's medical services are at a "saturation point", according to Dr Peters, and a difficult environment in which to get care, particularly without a fixed address to enable Medicare. In June, it was announced three new bulk-billing clinics would open in the ACT thanks to federal funding, but it is unclear how they will be financed long-term. With this in mind, Street Side Medics is also focused on providing continuity of care. Dr Peters said this aspect, and the positive connections she could make with individuals, was rewarding. "We don't ask questions or turn anyone away no matter where they're from or what their Medicare status is, we are not judgemental,"she said. "We don't force people to disclose anything they don't want to. And doing that, we hope that they will continue to come back to us and we make continuity plans, follow them up. "They know us and we know them." Street Side Medics chief executive Nic Brown said they would run the service in one location but intended to expand to others over time. He said 50 per cent of people they saw did not have a Medicare card. "We know that bulk billing rates in the ACT are low,"Mr Brown said. "And so there's a whole variety of factors, notwithstanding a focus on just trying to ... get their next meal. "Healthcare can drop down the list of priorities. Taking the van where people are removes some of those barriers." The van currently operates once a week in Civic, in partnership with Vinnies Roadhouse at the Griffin Centre on Genge Street. Mr Brown said they were keen to hear from other services that might want to work with them at other locations. "Please reach out, because we'd love to partner." [Image text:] STREET SIDE MEDICS