A Phoenix organization that provides health care to people experiencing homelessness plans to expand its services thanks to a new grant from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
Circle the City has served homeless patients in the Phoenix area for over a decade. In addition to brick-and-mortar clinics, it has several mobile medical units and street medicine teams that treat patients in parks or alleys across Maricopa County. But until now, these providers have only gone out on weekdays. The $476,081 grant from the Health Resources and Services Administration, announced Tuesday, means the mobile teams will soon offer weekend services for the first time.
“We didn’t have anybody going out on weekends,” said Circle the City chief medical officer Dr. William Ellert. “It’s a big deal for us. When we get that size of a grant that’s going to help us do something that we believe is that impactful, it’s a big deal.”
Ellert said the additional hours of service will be critical since the homeless population in the Phoenix area continues to grow and unsheltered people experience a range of medical issues all days of the week. But, Ellert said, patients may lack transportation or may be reluctant to seek care in a traditional facility.
“It can be things like — they don’t want to leave their possessions to go to a clinic or a hospital because they’re afraid something might happen to them,” Ellert said.
Ellert expects the new weekend mobile programs to be up and running within the next three months. He is hopeful that means the organization will be able to help more patients suffering from heat-related illnesses this summer. Circle the City’s street medicine team last year began offering IV hydration treatments to patients for the first time. Ellert said that will continue this year.
“We were able to probably prevent a number of patients from being hospitalized by being able to intervene aggressively and early,” Ellert said. “To be able to extend that over the weekend is something that will help both our partners in the emergency rooms as well as our patients who find it difficult to go to fixed sites.”
In addition to expanding hours for street outreach, Circle the City also plans to use the new grant funding to add new weekend hours for its hospital navigation program, which connects homeless patients being discharged from hospitals with respite programs or follow-up care.
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