April was business as usual: we consulted, treated and helped our patients, and we continued to develop our project that aims to help people in need – accessible communications. More information in our report below!
Mobile clinic
Mobile clinic switched to it’s summer schedule of trips, since heating stations closed their doors for the season. We went out 25 times to 39 spots, where homeless people can get food and shelter, and we assisted 177 patients 255 times. We dressed 63 wounds, an ambulance was called twice.
Accessible communications
Charity Hospital and the community of orthodox youth “Kinoniya” launched a joint project named Accessible communications. Here’s the gist of it: homeless people can come to our Mobile clinic stops and make free calls to any russian numbers. This means they can reach out to their families, friends or social workers, get a doctor’s appointment, find a job or contact government insitutions. In April, our patients spent 17 minutes on the phone.
Medical assistance in shelters
We visited Malta’s shelter 9 times, we examined 26 patients 48 times in total. Dressed 23 wounds. Had to call an ambulance once.
Glasses
We gave 9 pairs of glasses to our patients, two of these pairs were brand new, made to fit our patients specifically.
Tests
10 homeless people with symptoms of cold got express tests for COVID-19 antigens. All results were negative. We also tested 8 patients for HIV, tested 7 patients for hepatitis B and hepatitis C, and we tested 2 people for syphilis and for blood sugar level.
SepaRight waste collection
We were at 6 SepaRight waste collection spots this month, where people donated medicines to us.
Sharing experience
On April 8th Nochlezhka hosted their annual conference on homelessness. Sergey Ievkov and Vitaliy Kurdeko represented Charity Hospital at this conference, and they gave a talk on how the first medico-social outreach project of Saint Petersburg got its start. They also talked about how it interacts with other charities of the city, and they pointed out that it’s an important part of the larger infrastructure. They discussed the difficulties and peculiarities of organizing Mobile clinic’s work, and why this work is important in the first place. You can watch this talk on our YouTube channel.
On April 11th, our volunteering doctor Zoya Korobova gave a talk about the ways of communicating with patients and the common mistakes in this process. Everyone interested in our inner workings can watch this talk on our YouTube channel.
Interactions with the government
We sent two complaints to the local authorities about homeless patients’ healthcare rights violations. One patient with COVID-19 was prematurely discharged from a hospital, and this was done with sanitary regulation violations. Another patient with sharp pain was denied help in a state stomatology.
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