With the arrival of warmth in St. Petersburg, we resumed the work of our improvised mobile barbershop for homeless patients, issuing umbrellas and raincoats, vaccinating, testing for socially significant infections and, of course, treating those who need help.
Mobile Clinic
In May, we went out 18 times to 26 locations where homeless people could get food and shelter and provided medical and social help to 108 patients 146 times. Performed 43 wound dressings. An ambulance team was summoned once.
The mobile clinic works according to the summer schedule. The current schedule is available on our website: https://charityhospital.ru/for_patients/ You can print it out and carry it with you, and when you meet someone in need, give them a flyer with the MC schedule.
Accessible communication
Thanks to a joint project between Charity Hospital and the Kinonia Club, our patients were on the phone for 80 minutes in May.
Medical assistance in shelters
We visited the Malta Shelter 11 times and saw 25 patients 50 times. Performed 29 dressings. Called the ambulance 3 times.
Glasses
We gave out 3 pairs of glasses for vision correction across all projects, as well as 3 cases for glasses. In May, 2 of our patients visited the optometrist. We thank our partners – optical shops Vision, Ocheche, and Rainbow, for their help in making and collecting glasses for homeless patients.
Testing
43 patients were tested for HIV, viral hepatitis B and C, and syphilis, and we performed blood glucose measurements for 42 patients.
Vaccination
Available at all Mobile Clinic parking lots free of charge and without any documents, thanks to cooperation with the district health departments. During the month, we vaccinated 2 people against diphtheria and tetanus, and 3 people against leptospirosis.
Medical and social support
Charity Hospital’s staff and volunteers helped patients get help:
– 2 people got fluorography exams
– 1 person got dental help
– 2 people got consultations with specialists in a city clinic
– 1 person got a consultation of a dermatovenerologist
– 1 person was placed in a psychiatric hospital
– 1 person was placed in a hospice
– 12 people got remote consultations from a medical specialist
– 2 people restored their Russian Federation passports (jointly with Kinonia)
– 9 people got their hair cut
Outreach
During outreach sessions we come to those who need help – oftentimes, this is the only way to help desperate people. In May, we went out 5 times and saw 10 patients. Performed one wound dressing.
Requests to Telegram bot
ISeeHomelessBot is a bot for collecting information from St. Petersburg residents about homeless people on the streets. At the request of indifferent people, the Charity Hospital team goes to the person in distress to understand the problem and provide assistance on the spot. In May, we received 9 requests, 2 of which have been processed.
If you see a homeless person on the streets of St. Petersburg and want to help them, send a request to the bot: https://t.me/ISeeHomelessBot
Humanitarian aid
In May, we gave out: 2 subway tokens, 2 contactless smart cards used in public transport (jointly with our friends – the Kinonia Club, 4 lifepacks, 3 cell phones and 3 SIM-cards, 2 walking canes, 1 pregnancy test, 6 intimate hygiene products, 3 raincoats, 2 orthopedic items.
SepaRight Waste Collection
In May, the SepaRight Collection campaign collected medications for our patients at 17 locations.
Also in May
In the new issue of the podcast “Real XX Century,” the founder of the Charity Hospital Sergey Ievkov talked with journalist Galina Artemenko about why he once packed a bag of medicine and went to an abandoned orchard and how the street medicine project in St. Petersburg evolved over five years: https://xxvek.mave.digital/ep-51
And we at the Hospital completed our season of trips to schools as part of the “Light of Kindness” project. The Charity Hospital team gave 10 interactive lessons in schools and orphanages. We taught children first aid, gave tours of the Mobile Clinic, talked about homelessness and why people end up on the streets. And we also talked about how everyone can help those in need.
We took part in the festival “Fire of Kindness” in Sevkabel – we taught the guests the Heimlich maneuver and collected a whole box of medicines for patients of the Charity Hospital. We also had great help in schools: we collected hygiene products, medicines, and glasses.
Interactions with the state
We negotiated with Health Committee about moving a homeless man with terminal cancer from a multi-disciplinary hospital to a hospice and prevented his discharge to the street. After a formal request, face-to-face communication with the attending physician, and several phone calls to the Committee, the homeless man was transferred to the hospice palliative care unit. Unfortunately, a few days after the transfer, the man passed away from a terminal illness, but at the end of his life he was anesthetized and, thanks to the caring subscribers of the Charity Hospital, was provided with everything he needed.
We thank you for caring and helping us!
If you would like to help us, you can support us in any convenient way here: https://charityhospital.ru/donate
