House Calls to the Homeless
It’s a long way from his practice at Massachusetts General Hospital, where Gonzalez sees more well-heeled patients. The homeless sometimes can’t, sometimes won’t get to mainstream hospitals, so for nearly two decades, Gonzalez, 76, has taken his black bag to them at the Barbara McInnis House on Albany Street, where Boston Health Care for the Homeless Program (BHCHP) runs a treatment center.
It’s a long way from his practice at Massachusetts General Hospital, where Gonzalez sees more well-heeled patients. The homeless sometimes can’t, sometimes won’t get to mainstream hospitals, so for nearly two decades, Gonzalez, 76, has taken his black bag to them at the Barbara McInnis House on Albany Street, where Boston Health Care for the Homeless Program (BHCHP) runs a treatment center.
Gonzalez doesn’t do it for his resume: He’s got pages of awards and “firsts.” And at his age, recovering from a kidney transplant, it’s not exactly convenient, or even medically advisable. But it’s a calling he says he has heard since he was a kid growing up poor in Puerto Rico.