Boston Health Care for the Homeless Program receives HHS funding and has Federal PHS deemed status with respect to certain health or health-related claims, including medical malpractice claims, for itself and its covered individuals.
Ensuring Access
Care for women (anyone identifying as female) is all about approach. Trauma-informed, caring, responsive, and focused on quality are how we describe our approach; and offering patients options for where they receive care is paramount. We offer a full range of health care at all of our sites and drop-in spaces so patients can choose where they receive care based on their own preferences. These include traditional feeling clinics based at women’s shelters and engagement centers to make it easier for female-identifying patients to access care in the places they are already waking up (overnight shelters) or spending the day (day shelters and engagement centers). Additionally, staff perform targeted street outreach to meet potential patients and connect them with care.
Here is a list of the women-only clinic sites located in partner facilities:
- Pine Street Inn, Women’s Inn, 363 Albany Street, Boston
- Women’s Lunch Place, 67 Newbury Street, Boston
- St. Anthony’s Shrine, Arch Street, Boston
- Rosie’s Place, 889 Harrison Avenue, Boston
- Woods Mullen Shelter, 794 Massachusetts Avenue, Boston – the largest women’s shelter in New England
Patient Education and Navigation:
BHCHP staff provide community-based outreach and engagement in preventive care within key shelter locations. The role of Patient Navigator in our care model engages with patients who may not come to our clinics on their own and provides health education, assistance with making appointments, care coordination, accompaniment, and assistance with follow-up care. Perhaps most importantly, the navigators form trusting relationships with patients which aids in building trust with the rest of our program wide services and staff. Our cancer screening patient navigator and the recovery support navigator (in conjunction with Rosie’s Place) are examples of navigators working closely with our teams and patients to provide much needed support in these areas.
