Anthony Weekes separated from his wife of 21 years. He lost his home in Fredericksburg, Virginia as a result.
He followed the advice of his Scranton-born grandfather.
“My whole life, my granddaddy has always told me, if I ever got in a pinch to come to Scranton and Scranton would take care of me,” Weekes said.
He’s been in Scranton since May 4. And he’s been housing insecure since. He got connected with resources through the Community Intervention Center in Scranton, including a check-up at The Wright Center’s mobile street medicine clinic.
“I don't want to be homeless, and I need my medicine, and I need to be taken care of. We're seeing what Scranton has,” Weekes said.
The mobile clinic, called the "Driving Better Health" van, meets patients where they are at. For now, the van parks at the Community Intervention Center from 9-11 a.m. on Mondays and Fridays.
What is street medicine?
The Wright Center started its street medicine program in January. And according to project director Dr. Doug Klamp, the team has served about 380 people since then.
“Street medicine is reaching out to predominantly homeless people where they are, because a lot of people that are homeless have a hard time getting to clinics for a variety of reasons,” Klamp said. “It can be just the cost of transportation or mobility problems or just other issues that keep them from taking care of themselves. When we come to where they get services, it makes it much easier for them to get the medical care that they have often been neglecting.”
The Centers for Disease Control identifies housing as one of the most important social determinants of health, or the nonmedical factors like where people are born, grow and live that determine health outcomes.
Doctors can do most services from the van that they could in clinics, like drawing blood, administering vaccines or giving steroid injections. The team refers patients to specialists or sends them to emergency rooms if necessary.
The street medicine team consists of Dr. Klamp and three residents, including Dr. Tejas Nikumbh.
“When you take care of the homeless population, you have to come with a very different kind of mindset,” Nikumbh said. “You have to work with limited resources. You have to make sure that whatever resources you have reaches the homeless population, and that requires a lot of field work, like you can't be sitting in a clinic and understand what a homeless person goes through. You have to come to the streets, talk to them, know their issues and provide solutions to that.”
The project is funded by a grant from the federal Health Resource and Service Administration. And locally, All One Foundation & Charities supported the project with a $300,000 grant back in 2021.
CEO John Cosgrove said the project, which initially started as a mobile vaccine clinic to address low immunization rates in local public schools, promotes All One’s mission to “measurably improve the health and wellness of the people of Northeastern and Northcentral Pennsylvania.”
“It is important to recognize that that investment was made to bring health care to as many people who were experiencing barriers to that care, so I have to say that it is particularly gratifying that The Wright Center is able to meet the most vulnerable where they are, just to do what they can to alleviate some of the health care concerns that they have, and there are a great many of health care concerns of the folks that are experiencing homelessness,” Cosgrove said.
‘It’s basic human needs.’
The Driving Better Health mobile clinic serves anyone who needs care, regardless of insurance or ability to pay.
The Wright Center is designated as a federally qualified health center lookalike.
According to the Health Resources and Services Administration, “Health Center Program Look-Alikes are community-based health care providers that meet the requirements of our Health Center Program, but don't receive Health Center Program funding.”
“Part of being a federally qualified health center lookalike is to take care of everybody, regardless of ability to pay,” Klamp said. “Most of the people here actually do have medical assistance, but there's a decent percentage that don't have insurance. We have a sliding scale fee for people below the poverty level. We don't charge them anything. If they need CAT scans or MRIs or subspecialty care, that can be more of a challenge if they don't have insurance. But that's one thing we are reasonably good at, is trying to figure out how people can get care who don't have insurance.”
The Community Intervention Center, where the van has parked on Mondays and Fridays since January, is a recovery behavioral health drop-in center that serves people with addiction, mental health or behavioral health issues or those experiencing homelessness. Michelle Matyjevich has worked there for nearly 30 years.
“Our clients are not always the most trusting clients. With The Wright Center coming here, they're meeting our clients where they're at, in a very comfortable position for our clients. It's a little bit easier to trust somebody when they're coming to you,” Matyjevich said. “Our clients now don't have to worry about transportation. How are they getting to this doctor appointment? How are they getting back from this doctor appointment? Will I be judged, sitting in the waiting room at The Wright Center?”
She and her colleagues at the center said it’s heartwarming to see how well the street medicine team treats their clients.
“It's basic human needs. Everybody needs to see a doctor. Everybody needs to take care of their health and their well being. If you're not healthy, you can't do anything,” Matyjevich said.
Nikumbh said there’s a lot of excitement about programs like street medicine in the younger generation of doctors.
“At the core of medicine as a profession, it involves a lot of humanity, and it attracts those kind of individuals to come be doctors,” he said. “I think it's just natural for us doctors to fight for health equity to provide health to everyone, especially the people who can't afford it.”
Success stories from Scranton street medicine
After just one trip to the mobile van, Weekes is optimistic about his health. He appreciated Klamp’s attentiveness and looks forward to their next appointment. He’s been referred to a dental clinic for further care.
“I’ve had a good experience so far. The doctor got all my information. I signed a piece of paper so they can talk to my neurologist from Fredericksburg. Dr. Klamp will be my regular doctor, so he seems like a really good doctor, and I got everything going that I need for my seizures,” Weekes said.
Weekes had arrived in Scranton 11 days before being seen by his new doctor.
“It makes me feel really good, because my ex used to always take care of all this for me, and the fact that I was able to do it by myself and get a doctor and get it done ... it put a smile on my face,” he continued.
Nikumbh said the clinic has made him realize the importance of early intervention in health care.
“I remember a patient who had frostbite in peak winter during January, and just small interventions kind of prevented him from losing fingers and losing a limb. We do pretty high impact work,” Nikumbh said.
Klamp said there’s a misconception that a high percentage of people experiencing homelessness have addiction or mental health issues. His work with the street medicine team has proven that wrong.
“[We treated] a guy who had a construction company, but then COVID hit and he lost all his revenue, but he wanted to keep paying his employees, which he did to the point of losing his home. So there are some people that have just had tough luck, very appreciative that we're here,” he said.
He’s already had patients previously unable to work get back to work because of the care they received.
“There's a guy whose tent was across the street. He came in unable to work because of shoulder pain, back pain. Did a steroid injection in the shoulder, which took care of the shoulder pain. He was having leg spasms and cramps from his cholesterol medication, which he didn't know. So we changed the medication. The legs got better. We helped his back pain and ... he's working again,” Klamp said.
The future of The Wright Center’s street medicine
Klamp said the clinic needs to hire a full-time nurse practitioner or physician’s assistant.
“Once we are fully functional, we will be going out every day to a wider variety of locations, but we do not have all the staff we need yet to do that,” he said.
Weekes hopes his care at the clinic will set him on a path back towards housing security.
“This place is getting me other access to resources. They told me where the Social Security office is, and so I got a social security card and the medical card. And then today, I got to see a doctor, and they're setting me up with a dental place,” he said.
For now, the team is happy to see the positive impact they’ve made so far.
“Doctors like making people better, so it's rewarding to take care of people and really see them get better relatively quickly, and we're pretty busy, so the residents have been writing very positive evaluations about their experience,” Klamp said.
