This October, Charity Hospital won Moika78’s “City of Action” award, won a grant for the purchase of sleeping bags, learned from colleagues at the Crisis center for women INGO, shared knowledge, and, of course, treated homeless patients.
Mobile clinic
We went out 20 times to 28 spots, where homeless people can get food and shelter, and we assisted 161 patients 213 times. We dressed 44 wounds, and we had to call an ambulance once.
Charity Hospital is the winner of the international #МЫВМЕСТЕ (#WeAreTogether) award, and that money “fuels” our Mobile clinic.
Accessible communications
Thanks to our joint project with Club Kinoniya, our patients got to use phones for 43 minutes in October.
Medical assistance in shelters
We visited Malta’s shelter 9 times, we examined 24 patients 50 times in total. Dressed 27 wounds, no emergencies.
Glasses
We gave out 29 pairs of glasses, 3 of which were made specifically to fit our wards; we also gave out 10 eyeglass cases. 7 patients visited an optometrist in October.
Tests
1 homeless person with symptoms of cold got an express test for COVID-19 antigens, the result came back negative. We also tested 46 patients for HIV, 43 patients got tested for hepatitis B, hepatitis C, and syphilis, and we tested 29 patients for blood sugar level.
Vaccination
Homeless people can get free flu shots at every Mobile clinic stop, no IDs required. This is made possible by our collaboration with state clinics of the city. Last month, 57 people got flu shots, and 27 got COVID-19 shots.
Medico-social support
Charity Hospital’s staff and volunteers helped patients get help:
– 1 patient got registered at a detoxification facility
– 4 people got dental help
– 4 people got a chance to consult with specialists in state clinics
– 11 people got remote consultations
Outreach
Sometimes, the only way to help a desperate homeless person, who doesn’t know where to get help, is to bring help to them. That’s what our doctors, volunteers and friends do with our outreach program. We reached out 5 times in October, and we examined 7 patients.
Humanitarian help
We gave out the following goods last month: 3 subway tokens, 2 contactless smart-cards (used in public transport), 43 life packs, 1 mobile phone, 2 walking canes, 2 pregnancy tests for homeless ladies, 13 personal hygiene kits for women, 1 umbrella, and 1 orthopedic product.
SepaRight waste collection
We were at 7 SepaRight waste collection spots this month, where people donated medicines to us.
Sharing experience
How does Charity Hospital work? Why can’t homeless people get help from state clinics? How does street medicine work in other countries? And why does Charity Hospital need to open a medico-social center in Saint Petersburg? Charity Hospital’s director Sergey Ievkov answered these questions on the Centerfold podcast. Huge thanks to Anton Rubin and Dasha Litvishkp for the interesting converstaion!
On October 8th, Charity Hospital and the Crisis center for women INGO hosted an event, focused on the problem of violence towards women. It was quite productive, as our colleagues from the Crisis center shared useful information about violence in relationships, and our volunteers, in turn, spoke about their experience working with homeless women. Thanks to our colleagues from the Crisis center INGO for the talk, and thanks to the Comet space for the platform.
We published our first article about street medicine in a medical magazine: in 2021, we conducted a pilot study of prevalnce of HIV among homeless people of Saint Petersburg.
Interactions with the government
We have started a project to decentralize pulmonary tuberculosis screenings among homeless patients in Saint Petersburg. We’re trying to make these checks available in hospitals across the city for people in dire situations, with no money and ID, who have referrals from Charity Hospital.
On October 20th, during the city’s property commission session, Committy of property relations of Saint Petersburg denied us a space for our medico-social center for homeless people.
Also this October:
October 1st is celebrated as the international Walking day. One could say that it’s a professional holiday for the homeless. On that day, to show their solidarity with homeless people, who have to walk everywhere, friends and volunteers of Charity Hospital participated in a 5 kilometer walk over the Primorskiy Victory park. You too can participate in this event: share your step counts with the hashtag #Больничкаидет, tell your friends about the event on social media or support us through donations. We started a crowdfunding campaign to buy medicine for injuries and trophic ulcers, so we can treat patients of the Mobile clinic.
“Warm welcome – sleeping bags giveaway for homeless people” – the project of Charity Hospital’s director, Sergey Ievkov – won 100,000 rubles in the grant competition by #Росмолодежь. We used this money to buy sleeping bags for our patients, and we’ve already started giving them away.
October 13th is the World Sight day, which is observed anually on the second Thursday of October. We’ve launched the “Vision check” project, which is designed not only to raise awareness about sight issues among homeless people, but also to remind everyone that it’s important to see humanity in other people, even in the homeless. We interviewed 7 homeless people, who lost their sight due to cataracts, and who couldn’t get treatment for a long time because they didn’t have any ID.
On October 14th, as a part of our “Vision check” project, Charity Hospital and the “Happy Vision” eye microsurgery clinic performed screenings for cataracts and glaucoma on the streets of Saint Petersburg. 22 people came for a check-up! A lot of them were over the age of 45, mainly homeless people without documents, who can’t get tested at state hospitals.
Charity Hospital won online publication Moika78’s “City of Action” award! Our project “Mobile clinic – medico-social help for homeless people” got the most votes in the “Social Petersburg” category.
Thank you!
