TULANE STREET HEALTH RESPONSE
Who We Are:
Tulane Street Health Response is a team of dedicated medical students and volunteer physicians who seek to provide first aid, harm reduction supplies, naloxone (the opioid overdose reversal drug), and HIV/HCV testing for unhoused New Orleanians. As a student-led outreach group, we strive to enhance our medical education and the scope of our training by working to build trust between the medical community and people experiencing homelessness.What We Do:
We intend to hold outdoor monthly drop-ins in downtown New Orleans. Our students will offer unhoused community members first aid and education about COVID-19, safer drug use, safer sex, and use of our first aid kits to self-administer basic, hygienic wound care. Our drop-ins will have licensed physicians to provide expert medical advice and supervision of students, social workers to help our participants navigate resources in the city, naloxone (the opioid overdose reversal drug), and HIV/HCV testing.Our Why:
It has been shown that stigma persists against people who are unhoused or have substance-use disorders, even in medical settings. This is why we created Tulane Street Health Response, to help students learn how to engage compassionately with a stigmatized patient population, and ultimately grow into better future physicians. We take a harm reductionist approach; we believe meeting our participants exactly where they are, on their own terms, will improve both medical student training and community health outcomes. We offer a unique setting for students to 1) converse and treat patients who engage in risk behaviors, 2) recognize and reduce our biases as future providers, and 3) form a stronger understanding of structural violence and inequality, root causes of substance use, and client-centered approaches. We think patient-centered, compassionate care for everyone matters, and are dedicated to helping Tulane medical students build these skills through Tulane Street Health Response.WHERE YOUR DONATION IS GOING
Your donation will go directly towards the items necessary to build first aid kits and to maintain the operations of our drop-in clinic. The kits are the key resource our students need to educate participants on first aid and hygienic wound care. These include gauze, band-aids, antibiotic ointment, alcohol wipes, travel soap, sterile waters, and more. We also need start up supplies, such as a canopy tent for patient privacy, portable table for patient supplies and education, and a floodlight for evening drop-ins. As we learn more about our participants’ needs through our interactions at drop-ins, we seek to add more items to these kits that will promote our participants’ health and safety, maximizing the impact we make.
Tulane Street Health Response Needs Your Help!
Help Tulane medical students bring medical care to the streets of New Orleans! We are asking for donations to make our monthly drop-ins as Tulane Street Health Response possible. Your donation will make a difference in both our medical education and in the lives of unhoused community members in New Orleans. From all of us at Tulane Street Health Response, thank you for donating or sharing our campaign!
WHY DONATIONS ARE NECESSARY
We share a budget with several other Student-run Clinics; however, since we intend to serve a very specific patient population, we require our own finances to fund our specific needs. That is where donations from our community members come in! Each donation will allow us to purchase the specific supplies we need to serve clinic participants in a compassionate and practical way, as well as the tools we need to preserve peoples’ autonomy and privacy. Because we don’t operate out of an existing shelter or clinic building, and because we intend to distribute certain medical supplies directly to our participants so that they can care for themselves even outside of our monthly drop in, we need a budget that accommodates these extra space and utility needs. More financial security for Tulane Street Health Response means more people get life-saving supplies, and ultimately the rate of overdose and preventable infections goes down in the community.