Dr. Jim O'Connell and author Tracy Kidder joined ljmullinsworld recently to talk about 'Rough Sleepers,' a new book by Kidder about O'Connell's work expanding health care to Boston's homeless population.
Author Tracy Kidder shadowed Dr. Jim O'Connell for five years. Kidder profiles O'Connell and his work caring for Boston's homeless community in the new book Rough Sleepers.
Some nurses had already been running a health clinic at Pine Street Inn, the large homeless shelter in Boston, for years when O'Connell showed up. The nurses set him straight on day one. They told him to put away his stethoscope, slow down and spend time talking with his patients, he recalled. O'Connell and his team expanded the program to other shelters and hospital-based clinics. They opened the nation's first medical respite facility for people experiencing homelessness and a headquarters with primary medical and mental health care, substance use treatment and a dental clinic. The program serves about 10,000 people a year — even those who find permanent housing.
In the book, Kidder writes about one of O'Connell's first tasks as a doctor to the homeless community: soaking the feet of shelter guests, as the nurses directed him to do: "And then finally, after about six weeks, he looked down to me and he said, 'Hey, I thought you were supposed to be a doctor.' And it was, like, the first person in the clinic that acknowledged I was a doctor, right? And I lit up, and I said, 'Yeah, I am.' And he said, 'What the hell are you doing soaking feet?' And I said, 'You know, I don't really know, but I'm doing whatever the nurses tell me to do.' And...
Dr. Jim O'Connell was just finishing his medical residency when he was asked to help build a Health Care for the Homeless program in Boston in 1985. He thought he'd stay for a year but never left.
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