5 out of 5 Doctors Agree: To Be Healthy, You Need A Home

by Shannon Moriarty

Published November 17, 2008 @ 06:10AM PT

Life without a home takes a terrible toll on a person's mental and physical health. Unsanitary living conditions and exposure to harsh elements diet can cause terrible illness. Limited access to medical care and healthy foods make matters worse.

Poor health can also cause a person to become homeless. Without insurance, conditions often go undiagnosed and untreated until they become so severe a person can no longer work.

Free health clinics have proven to be not only life-savers for homeless people, but cost-savers for communities. Providing preventative care, like a $10 flu shot, can prevent a costly visit to the emergency room. And regular medical care can prevent thousands of unnecessary deaths.

In Nashville, for example, the healthcare of their homeless population has become such a concern that the city is working to identify those at the greatest risk of dying on the streets. This week, the Tennessean reported that free health care clinics are expanding services to meet the rising demand for care. 

Still, one clinic director in Salt Lake City said that even with services readily available, some homeless people do not seek care until it's almost too late; 

It's amazing how much pain they can tolerate, Whipple later says about clients she sees each day. While some might want an appointment after the first inkling of a sore throat, others are so used to feeling bad, either from regular aches or just being tired, they can't tell when something is really wrong.

"The severity of disease that patients come in with, that they've let go for years and years and years, is unbelievable," Whipple said. "You and I would not have been walking around with this for years."

Like the rest of the world, health care clinics for the homeless are feeling the pinch of the economy. In Salt Lake City, for example, the Fourth Street Clinic does not a have a corporation sponsoring flu shots. The flu, according to the clinic director, can trigger a host of problems, especially for homeless people.

With the sour economy, high foreclosure rate, and job losses, the Fourth Street Clinic is one of many homeless health care clinics that is bracing itself for an increase in clients this winter. 

[Picture from the Salt Lake Tribune: Nurse Practitioner Amy Whipple checks the condition of Vonda Dewey'a feet during a recent visit to the 4th Street Clinic on Tuesday, Nov. 11, 2008. Dewey who has been homeless for three years is trying to control her diabetes and keep her feet healthy, a common problem with the homeless facing the cold and having to walk regularly. Year-round the clinic attends to the homeless and those in need, offering numerous services.]