After a long Thursday shift at Loyola University Medical Center in Chicago, emergency physician Theresa Nguyen, MD, FACEP, heads to the train station. It’s late, but she’s not going home.

Dr. Nguyen and several volunteers meet at the end of the Chicago Transit Authority Blue Line, the Forest Park Station, where patients without access to care, health insurance, or anywhere else to turn, are waiting. Health care professionals, social workers, and students from area universities stay until midnight treating wounds and bruises. They deliver medical care while their community partner The Night Ministry offers information on housing and warm meals.

There’s even a mobile shower unit, something Dr. Nguyen said is a key part of their wound care.

“Our motto is simple: Go to the people,” Dr. Nguyen said. “I love coming out here, listening to people’s stories, and building relationships with individuals who are often neglected by the health care system. It’s actually a great way to unwind after a busy shift.”

The Chicago Street Medicine program is just one example of ACEP members delivering care to underserved populations outside of the traditional emergency department (ED). Volunteers with free time and board certification in emergency medicine work in clinics where all that is required to get blood pressure medication is a diagnosis of high blood pressure. Volunteers work in mobile clinics, where converted vans and buses move where the need is greatest. An increasing number of emergency physicians are working in street medicine programs, removing most of the barriers to health care access.

“Street medicine goes beyond medical care,” said Dr. Nguyen, co-founder of the Loyola Street Medicine program and director at the Center for Community and Global Health at Loyola’s Stritch School of Medicine. “It’s about understanding the full picture of a patient’s circumstances. We’re addressing the roots of their needs, which go far beyond their medical symptoms.”

Street Medicine Movement

Volunteers and the organization “Freestanding Communities”, which provides medical triage and patient screenings, prepare a street medicine clinic in New Orleans. ACEP member Jordan N. Vaughn works with Louisiana State University, volunteers, and other city services to provide care to underserved populations. (Click to enlarge.)

Street medicine is rooted in a movement that began in the 1990s, pioneered by physician James S. Withers, MD, who went into Pittsburgh’s homeless campsites to provide care and gain insight into the lives of people living on the streets. Today, that movement has expanded globally. According to the Street Medicine Institute, more than 140 cities have street medicine programs, serving the unsheltered in 27 countries and six continents.