Blog

Wren Hollow 3rd graders donate care packages for Street Med STL

The term “lived experience,” according to AI, is “the knowledge and understanding that comes from someone’s personal experiences, including their emotions, perceptions, preferences, and goals.” Another way of putting it, the Oxford Dictionary says, is “personal...

Earlier this year we lost one of our unhoused neighbors to overdose. He was a kind soul; someone I had known for years while caring for him on the street. He liked to tease me about my hat, asking me to buy him a matching one. He would make a game out of trying to...

Building relationships with our neighbors in the unhoused community has become a central aspect of my time in medical school. As a founding member of Street Med STL, I have learned more about resilience, teamwork, and the power of humanity than from any other life...

Volunteers from Street Med STL recently attended the International Street Medicine Institute Symposium, hosted in the wonderful Kansas City, MO. This meeting, in its 20th year, is the largest such event dedicated to those who practice street medicine. We had gracious...

Searching for Familiar Faces: The Unseen Impact of the Riverfront Encampment Closures When I first joined Street Med STL, I was told that our Saturday outreach changed based on where we would find the patients. Rather than the usual practice of setting up a clinic and...

This weekend, I ventured out with the Street Med outreach team. Our team provides weekly healthcare to some unhoused populations in downtown St Louis. We come bearing donations of food, clothing and hygiene products, but mainly we lug around big red doctor bags and...

It had been a few weeks since I was last out with Street Med and I hadn’t noticed a porta-potty before. In one of the encampment areas we frequently visit, there it was in full boxy blue synthetic glory, parked on a sidewalk. It gave me a topic of conversation. “Hey,...

“I was afraid I missed you,” she exclaimed as she quickly caught up to our caravan. “I haven’t been staying here lately, but wanted to see you. You are the only ones I trust to take care of me.”  Though we had known her for a while, it had taken many weeks for this...

“Hi there, we are out here with Street Med STL – we are just wondering if anyone needs any medical care?” While we frequently see friends we have known for some time, it is not uncommon to meet a new face. This new face was young, but wore the marks of someone with...