Community Health and Street Medicine
A New Approach to Community Medicine
The Community Health and Street Medicine Program began in November 2020 and aims to educate family medicine resident physicians and medical students in compassionate, low-barrier, comprehensive medical care for patients affected by substance use disorder, mental health disorders, homelessness, and disability. The care is delivered using several models including a drop-in clinic, home visits, and Street Medicine rounds.
The comprehensive education and care address the public health priorities of substance use, maternal child health (including maternal substance use), family planning (including prevention of teen and undesired pregnancy through decreasing barriers to access of long-acting reversible contraception), screening and treatment of infectious disease (including hepatitis, HIV, and syphilis), mental health, homelessness, food insecurity, and care for persons with disabilities and the elderly.
Learning Objectives
Residents and students will explore community health resources, disease epidemiology, health promotion and wellness, community health education, and public health services. Learners will get the opportunity to interact with community health partners including Jefferson County Community Ministries, the Jefferson and Berkeley County Health Departments, the Berkeley County Harm Reduction team and Berkeley County Resource Center personnel, Jefferson County Quick Response Team (assists in connecting patients with substance use resources), Jefferson County Adult Drug Court, our WVU Eastern Division substance use treatment teams, home health services, and Hospice of the Panhandle.
Addressing Healthcare Barriers
Patients have many barriers to care in West Virginia including transportation, accessibility of affordable health care (i.e., healthcare deserts), lack of trust in the medical system, and the aging of our population. The COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated shortfalls in accessing affordable healthcare, leaving our local healthcare system to find solutions for our West Virginia residents. This clinical outreach aims to address the healthcare disparities in our area of the state by training residents and medical students in rural healthcare, investing in a clinical project geared toward underserved patients, and retaining medical students and residents to serve in West Virginia after graduation.
The recent PBS NewsHour, “West Virginia doctors work to bridge healthcare gap in rural areas,” highlights the problem being addressed and the work of Dr. Humerick, resident physicians, and her partners at WVU School of Medicine Eastern Division (see minute 5:30).
