Healing for the Homeless

Lisa’s¹ legs were broken.

She needed medical treatment, but she was turned away by local hospitals after they discovered she was homeless and uninsured. She and her husband uncovered one more lead – a free medical clinic, located inside a van.

Driving down Cleveland Ave., they pulled into the parking lot of the Catholic Charities of West Tennessee building, and sure enough, a blue RV sat humming, emblazoned with white words: “Operation Outreach” and “Health Care for the Homeless.”

An awning stretched from the van’s door, offering shelter from heat and rain. After helping her to the reception area inside the building, Lisa’s husband slinked back to his car, sliding down in his seat.

After all, he was the one who broke her legs.

The van didn’t look like any doctor’s office Lisa had seen before. Green and purple paint swirled around two exam rooms that anchored both ends of the van, while a flat screen TV murmured in the entry area. The tidy space was stocked with oxygen tanks, defibrillators and cabinets full of supplies, but the air lacked that cold, antiseptic tang.

Some homeless patients have little to no experience with doctors, and the care providers in the van are patient, listening as Lisa talked through everything she experienced. After finishing Lisa’s treatment, the nurse practitioner saw her chance and asked, “Is this the life you really want?”

Lisa decided that she wanted to escape this situation, and the incident was reported to the authorities. A short time later, police entered through the basement's back door. The staff pointed the officers to Lisa’s husband, still in his car, and the police took him into custody. Lisa was interviewed by the police, with the assistance of our staff social workers. Soon after, she relocated to another city and started her new life.

Since 2004, the same van that treated Lisa has been the leading provider of health care to Memphis’ homeless. This doctor’s office on wheels is managed through a partnership between Baptist Memorial Health Care and Christ Community Health Services. Baptist’s supports includes hundreds of thousands of dollars a year while Christ Community provides the staffing, administrative oversight and support to the homeless patients.

Free Health Care for the Homeless

The Operation Outreach van visits four dedicated locations every month, and also travels to community events in the Memphis area. Most days, it’s parked outside Operation Outreach’s administration office, in the Catholic Charities building.

Appointments can be scheduled for on-site primary and acute care, including health maintenance, injury treatment, disease prevention, immunizations, patient education, and diagnosis and treatment of acute and chronic illnesses.

Patients also have access to a full roster of services not found in standalone clinics, like eye care, social services and free medications. “[Visiting Operation Outreach is] unlike going to a hospital, who would give patients a prescription. If you’re homeless, what do you do with a prescription?” says Anne Marie Wallace.Patients can also receive dental care through Bellevue Baptists Church’s Christian Mobile Dental clinic and by referral to Christ Community Health Services Dental Centers

As Baptist’s liaison to Operation Outreach, Wallace establishes community partnerships to grow the scope of the van’s care offerings. One partner, Davis Vision, donates 20-30 pairs of eyeglasses each month. Patients can also receive dental care through Bellevue Baptist Christian Mobile Dental Clinic, which provides everything from cleanings, fillings and extractions. When a patient needs more care than what the van can offer on-site, the staff will work with Baptist to arrange access to food banks and shelters.

The clinic’s comprehensive services are entirely confidential and at no cost to the patient.

A Former Patient Gives Back

Grace Young holds court at a small table at the end of the hall in the Catholic Charities basement, chatting with staff and patients while making Christmas decorations.

She works for Operation Outreach as a Spiritual Health Counselor, welcoming patients, and offering to pray with them. Young is uniquely suited to this role because she understands what patient care looks like from both sides of the waiting room.

When she was homeless, the van was there for her, offering the compassionate care she needed most. After receiving medical care, she went back to school and founded a ministry called In the Arms of an Angel, which helps women trapped in trafficking rings.

The room where Young’s table sits looks similar to many churches and schools built in the 1960s: oil paint stretches over pockmarked cinder blocks, slathered in shades of mustard and mint. The hallway serves as a waiting room where patients can await care while thumbing through a free book or watching a Tyler Perry movie. However, this space wasn’t always so accommodating.

Operation Outreach needed space for patient intake, and a former homeless shelter owned by Catholic Charities of West Tennessee would fit the bill. But by all accounts, the building was dilapidated. The gym basement needed some work if it was going to match the same level of hospitality as the Outreach van.

“Just because it’s a place where the homeless population goes, it doesn’t have to – and it shouldn’t – look like homeless people live there,” program director Janice Taylor says.

Taylor works for Christ Community Health Services and has been with Operation Outreach since its beginning. Baptist secured a grant to rehab the basement space and started by cleaning up the flood damage, putting up walls and stocking the office with equipment. “Patients come in and say, ‘Wow! This is for us?” Taylor says.

A Few Paychecks from Homelessness

In 2016 alone, the van cared for 80 percent of the 2,000 homeless people in Memphis. People don’t often think about losing their homes but many people may only be a few paychecks away from that reality. “When you think about how much you’ve got in savings, and if you can’t pay that mortgage…,” Wallace trails off. Taylor agrees and guarantees the clinic has seen people from your neighborhood, work, school and church.“We’ve had nurses come through, a physician, attorneys...moms who haven’t worked for many years because they were housewives, and, after a divorce, their husbands abandoned them with the children.” If someone you know lost their home, there’s a blue van waiting to put them on the road to recovery.