In April, the Hospital traditionally switches to summer mode: winter heating tents have closed and, as a consequence, the Mobile Clinic parking addresses have changed. Instead of sleeping bags, we ask to bring umbrellas and raincoats for our homeless patients, but the main thing remains – we continue to travel 6 days a week to those who need help.
Mobile Clinic
The mobile clinic has begun operating on a summer schedule. The current schedule is available on our website: https://charityhospital.ru/for_patients/. We have also attached a flyer to this post – you can print it out and carry it with you, and when you meet a person in need, give them a flyer with the MC schedule.
In April, we went out 20 times to 28 locations where homeless people could get food and shelter and provided medical and social assistance to 106 patients 151 times. We dressed 46 wounds. No ambulance calls were made.
Accessible communication
Thanks to the joint project of Charity Hospital and Kinonia Club, in April our patients talked on the phone for 65 minutes.
Medical assistance in shelters
Visited Malta Shelter 9 times and saw 17 patients 45 times. Performed 28 dressings. Did not have to call an ambulance.
Glasses
We gave out 13 pairs of glasses for vision correction across all projects, 4 pairs of them were new, with prescription, and also 4 cases for glasses. In April, 6 of our patients visited an optometrist. We thank our partners – optical shops Vision, Ocheche, and Rainbow, for their help in making and collecting glasses for homeless patients.
Testing
Performed 4 rapid tests for COVID-19 antigens in homeless patients with symptoms of cold, all negative. We tested 43 people for HIV, viral hepatitis B and C, and syphilis, took an extended serologic test for syphilis for 1 person and 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 5 people against diphtheria and tetanus, 2 people against hepatitis A, 6 people against hepatitis B, 8 people against leptospirosis.
Medical and social support
Charity Hospital’s staff and volunteers helped patients get help:
– 1 person was registered for therapy in an AIDS Center;
– 5 people got fluorography examinations;
– 2 people got consultations with medical specialists in a city clinic;
– 1 person got a consultation with a dermatovenerologist;
– 1 person got an appointment at a psychiatric hospital;
– 17 people received a remote consultation from a medical specialist;
– 4 people restored their Russian Federation passports (jointly with Kinonia)
Outreach
During outreach sessions we come to those who need help – oftentimes, this is the only way to help desperate people. In April, we went out 5 times and saw 10 patients. We called an ambulance for a patient once.
Requests to Telegram bot
ISeeHomelessBot is a bot that collects information from residents of St. Petersburg about homeless people on the streets. At the request of indifferent people, the Charity Hospital team goes to the person in distress to assess the problem and provide assistance on the spot. In April, 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 April, we gave out: 1 subway token, 4 contactless smart cards used in public transport (jointly with our friends – the Kinonia Club), 7 life packs, 2 walking canes, 1 pregnancy test, 1 orthopedic device.
SepaRight Waste Collection
In April, the SepaRight Collection campaign collected medications for our patients at 16 locations.
Interactions with the government
In April we helped a homeless woman with hoarding syndrome to get psychiatric and social help from state institutions of the city. At the request of the Charity Hospital, social workers and a district psychiatrist visited the woman at her place of residence. We stay in touch with all the specialists and continue to coordinate our actions so that the woman in distress can get off the street and keep her health.
We thank you for caring and helping us!
If you would like to help us, you can support us in any convenient way here.
ph: Vitaly Kurdeko
