In my opinion, James O’connell – the president of BHCHP organization (Boston healthcare for the homeless people) – is one of the few people who really helps (or try to help) poor people and tries not just to fix their problems temporarily and put short-run bandages, but also tries to help them get out of poverty and show them future, which is not oriented on living in the street and thinking to get a bed for that night or have dinner (being oriented on just one day), but looking forward in the future.
He, himself, had a hard time to become “a street doctor”. At first, he wasn’t even able to ask any medical questions. This was completely different from what he’s been taught in medical school. As one of the nurses called Barbara advises him, …show more content…
This is not the thing we can learn from books, this is something that is natural. He says “We see dramatic things that I never saw in medical school, or even in the text book.” If a person isn’t ready for this and if he himself starts panic, instead of helping he will heart homeless person’s feelings and make him or her scared. And this is not the only thing. Homeless people are those who have spent almost the whole life in the streets, they struggled a lot, they were scared and they don’t trust anyone, so it’s not easy to just go to them and tell: I’m here to treat you. No, it takes time. Maybe at first, we need to give them material things which they think they need most, as Doctor James O’connell does. He takes few “doctor things” with him, but more socks, food, etc. –things which are valuable for people in the street and talks with them and in the dialogue mentions that he’s a doctor. As he explains us “this breaks down many barriers” and I agree with him. Of course, I always say that psychological help is the most important, but I don’t mean that we need to forget about basic human needs. At first we can start putting some small bandages, but then we need to go deeply and try to fix the roots of the …show more content…
When a journalist asks about common illnesses, he answers that they suffer from the same things as we see in the hospitals. But the problem is that they don’t take care of themselves. “if you wait for folks to come to you in the clinic, these are people who struggled in streets interested in just getting meal today or just living today or getting a bed for the night, taking care of their diabetes, or etc. is way down of their list. This is difficult for us doctor, as we think this should be in the top of their list.” And the doctor O’connell does a great job when he walks through the streets, under bridges, tunnels and always tries to find more homeless people to help. This is a person who tries to turn homeless people from being alone, ignored, isolated, sick, addicted to drugs, without money and future which doesn’t look any better than living in the streets into people who are healthy and have faith in the future and have way out of
He, himself, had a hard time to become “a street doctor”. At first, he wasn’t even able to ask any medical questions. This was completely different from what he’s been taught in medical school. As one of the nurses called Barbara advises him, …show more content…
This is not the thing we can learn from books, this is something that is natural. He says “We see dramatic things that I never saw in medical school, or even in the text book.” If a person isn’t ready for this and if he himself starts panic, instead of helping he will heart homeless person’s feelings and make him or her scared. And this is not the only thing. Homeless people are those who have spent almost the whole life in the streets, they struggled a lot, they were scared and they don’t trust anyone, so it’s not easy to just go to them and tell: I’m here to treat you. No, it takes time. Maybe at first, we need to give them material things which they think they need most, as Doctor James O’connell does. He takes few “doctor things” with him, but more socks, food, etc. –things which are valuable for people in the street and talks with them and in the dialogue mentions that he’s a doctor. As he explains us “this breaks down many barriers” and I agree with him. Of course, I always say that psychological help is the most important, but I don’t mean that we need to forget about basic human needs. At first we can start putting some small bandages, but then we need to go deeply and try to fix the roots of the …show more content…
When a journalist asks about common illnesses, he answers that they suffer from the same things as we see in the hospitals. But the problem is that they don’t take care of themselves. “if you wait for folks to come to you in the clinic, these are people who struggled in streets interested in just getting meal today or just living today or getting a bed for the night, taking care of their diabetes, or etc. is way down of their list. This is difficult for us doctor, as we think this should be in the top of their list.” And the doctor O’connell does a great job when he walks through the streets, under bridges, tunnels and always tries to find more homeless people to help. This is a person who tries to turn homeless people from being alone, ignored, isolated, sick, addicted to drugs, without money and future which doesn’t look any better than living in the streets into people who are healthy and have faith in the future and have way out of