Homelessness to me means not having a safe environment to return to at the end of the day. I had a patient at Tolan park clinic who was living with her partner who was abusing her and since, she had no source of income she was staying with him until recently, when she finally found help from one of her friends. When we saw her in the clinic, she has not eaten or taken a bath in 3 days. She mentioned that she just moved into her friends place and is trying to find a new housing for herself and possibly a job. We got her in touch with out social worker at Tolan park who gave her resources for housing and shelter, talked to adult protective services about her domestic abuse situation and also started the process for Social benefits. She also enrolled her into the Ryan white program which enables that patient to get medications despite not having good insurance or income. I truly believe having a social worker who is well educated about the resources will help our population who are in these situations way too deep sometimes. In addition, we can also have a list of resources available at our GMAP clinic about best possible shelters and housing availabilities for patients depending on their needs
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