Community Partner: NeighborHub Health: Cincinnati Street Medicine
NeighborHub Health is a system of health care and supportive service providers that create a seamless continuum of care for people experiencing homelessness in Greater Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky. NeighborHub Health offers a comprehensive program of primary medical, dental, and behavioral health services, substance use disorder treatment, respite care, and referrals to other health services. Through the Health Care for the Homeless Program, we partner with experienced organizations and community providers to improve the overall health status of those experiencing homelessness.
My project will focus on implementing a medicine delivery program with the Street Medicine Team. I will be investigating the pharmaceutical needs of the community, help plan and implement how we will distribute those medicines, and evaluate how well the system is working. A secondary aim will be possibly implementing a mobile medical management program for substance use treatment.
About Michael
I grew up in Adrian, MI, a small town in rural southeast Michigan. It was here that I first gained an appreciation for the unique challenges that rural communities face when it comes to accessing healthcare. I did my undergraduate degree in chemistry at the University of Michigan and after graduating I completed a master’s degree in chemistry also at the University of Michigan, where I taught undergraduate chemistry lab and worked as a patient companion at a local community hospital in Ann Arbor, MI. The year before medical school, I was a volunteer in the Jesuit Volunteer Corps (JVC), where I helped to run a wrap-around social services agency in inner city Detroit.
It was during my time with JVC where I became acutely aware of healthcare inequities, particularly the barriers that unhoused folks face when trying to access care. This awareness, combined with my rural upbringing, ultimately inspired my interest in doing the service and advocacy elective, where I hope to better understand how I, as a future family medicine physician, can use my career to increase access to care.