Care For the Homeless

Empowering Patients, Forging Relationships Care For the Homeless Nurse Practitioner Joy Favuzza Care For the Homeless’ (CFH) Jackson Health Center sits comfortably in the eastern sector of the Bronx’s Mott Haven neighborhood. Amidst the vibrant activity on the streets and sidewalks, is the hustle and bustle of the Bruckner Expressway and the Robert F. Kennedy Bridge, both of which are within viewing distance. Down below the pavement, the 6-train echoes loud and clear. To the building’s side is a colorful, lightly worn playground. Its many slides, bridges, and ladders provide the perfect setting for any kid’s imagination to run wild. But, on a morning as cold as March 13th, it was understandably empty. But, now as the weather begins to warm, it’s easy to envision those slides and ladders overrun, and teeming with laughter. The CFH Health Center is co-located in the Jackson Family Residence, a living space for homeless families. The site is operated by CFH site partner...

A Break Well Spent After hours of studying for mid-terms and adding the final touches to projects, the most euphoric thing a college student looks forward to, is their spring break vacation. Many choose to indulge in the tranquility of warm beaches and enjoy cool, salty swims. Others opt for colder temperatures, flying on skis at breakneck speeds. And some simply enjoy the cozy comforts of home. A break is a break though, no matter how one chooses to spend it. The same cannot be said for those participating in a different option offered by many schools, known as Alternative Spring Break (ASB). Students partaking in these programs sacrifice their vacation, and instead, choose to spend their week away from school learning about timely and significant social issues. This past week, about a dozen students from Rice University in Houston, Texas made the 1,600+ mile journey to New York City, to achieve a comprehensive understanding of the intersection between mental health ...

Building Relationships, Earning Trust What do the West Indies, an Armadillo, a Dove, and Care For the Homeless (CFH) have in common? If you guessed the small island nation of Grenada, you’d only be half right. The other half of the answer pertains to Granada native, Dr. Sherill Purcell, who recently celebrated her 28-year anniversary with CFH. Dr. Purcell came to the United States when she was 21 and settled with her family in Kings County, Brooklyn, NY. She completed undergrad at CUNY-Brooklyn and subsequently graduated from New Jersey Medical School in Newark, NJ. Her early years at CFH were spent at a family shelter in Brooklyn. Purcell now splits her time as a pediatrician between CFH’s Citadel Open Access Health Center in Queens, NY and her own private practice. Even now in 2019 though, after her long career in medicine, she’s still meaningfully influenced by her native roots; especially when it comes to working with underserved patient populations. Purcell commente...

A Partner in Health Vladimir Taub, NP Thursday, January 17 th was a frigid day. It bore the type cold that sneaks its way through all the nooks and crannies of your jacket and latches on tight, like gum to the bottom of your shoe. Immediately, you’re desperately rubbing your gloved hands together and pressing them to the sides of your head to keep your ears from going numb. On a day when the peak temperature was only 25 degrees, before the wind chill, you’d assume that most people would just stay in and do their best to keep warm. Unfortunately, not everybody has that luxury. Outside the Salvation Army Jamaica Citadel Community Center in Queens, NY, people lined the street as they waited for the food pantry to open. And even though the site didn’t open until 11 a.m., dozens braved the cold at as early as 9 to claim their spots. Despite the presence of warm jackets, hats, and gloves, the symptoms of cold, perhaps the flu, such as coughs, sneezes, and obvious flu/cold sym...

Right at Home Brooklyn native Dr. Nickisha Berlus began her career as a provider with Care For the Homeless (CFH) on November 5 th , 2018. Since then, she’s been practicing at CFH’s Health Center at the Bushwick Family Residence in Brooklyn, NY. There she serves families and children who are mostly under-insured or uninsured. As much as she loves serving her community, family medical care wasn’t always Dr. Berlus’ first choice. “I initially went into medicine to go into surgery,” Dr. Berlus reminisced, “but when I was at Robert Wood Johnson in Camden, NJ, I did the Hot Clinic Health Outreach program.” The program was designed for medical students to follow patients who were similarly under-insured or uninsured, to the various emergency rooms 1  and specialty clinics   they would frequent. Dr. Berlus commented, “It was my patient at the Hot Clinic that deterred my original professional route. I was in my 4 th year of school, she was in her mid-50s, ...

Small Town, Big Heart From Left, Team Members Lexi Flick, Ashley Stewart, Captain Tina Flick,   CFH Development Associate Brian Myers, and Themla Stewart. Sixty-five miles north of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania lies the small town of Rimersburg. Settled in 1829 and incorporated in 1853, the town is home to just a little under 900 residents. Small numbers haven’t prevented its population from making big, charitable impacts. Clarion County, where Rimersburg is located, hosts an annual Walk to End Alzheimer’s. This past year, the 20 teams and 147 participants managed to raise over $27,000 for their cause. Right at the top of the list of donors was Memory Lane’s Forget-Me-Nots, who raised nearly $4,000 of the total. The team is made up of captain Tina Flick and seven other members.  The biggest portion of that amazing total is raised in New York City. Flick and her team have been making the journey here for the past two years. This is a big feat in and of it...

Mark Woollett and Candace Clift are California natives – Mark hails from Orange, CA and Candace from the greater Sacramento area. But they met in Massachusetts, both acting in a production of Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream . They moved to New York City in 2013, and as many artists who move here can attest, it can be hard to pay the bills while following your dreams. They keep their toes dipped firmly in the world of theatre by working at The Barrow Group Theatre Company and School, where Mark helps in finance and Candace works in school operations and teaches, in addition to several other jobs between them! Q.      How did you first learn about Care For the Homeless? A.      Mark heard an NPR story about a group in Boston that provides Medical care for the homeless and was inspired to see if a similar organization existed in New York City. A quick Google search brought him to Care For The Homeless, and he was impressed by its...

New York Homeless Policy Forum 2015 Jointly Sponsored by Baruch College’s Narendra Paul Loomba School of Management and Care for the Homeless,  Wednesday, April 8, at Baruch College, Newman Library, Room 750, 151 East 25 th Street (bet. Lexington and 3 rd Ave.) 9-9:25 a.m.- Registration, Coffee and Networking 9:25-9:30  a.m.-Welcome-Introductions 9:30-9:40 a.m.-Presentation: Homeless Issues in New York City, Where Do We Stand? 9:40-10:40 a.m.- Scope, Scale and Overview of Homeless Issues in NYC This plenary panel will serve as both an introduction to homeless policy issues in NYC, and explore the challenges. Presentation will include analysis of how many people are homeless or at risk in New York City, the context of the current crisis, NYC’s “right to shelter” and unique issues of homeless in NYC and discussion of what we’re doing right and wrong. 10:50-11:50 a.m.- Panel:   Stigmatization, Criminalization and Attacks On Homeless People Pane...

To Save Human Service Programs for Homeless and Poor People Last week Care for the Homeless, and 2.100 other advocacy and provider organizations across the U.S., launched a campaign to fight “sequestration”, the automatic federal funding cuts threatening most human service programs in the coming federal budget. These cuts, set at 8.2% for most domestic discretionary spending, include cuts to health programs, housing assistance, child welfare programs, job training and on and on. Operating as NDD United (NDD stands for nondefense discretionary) this national effort contacted every U.S. Senator and House of Representatives member emphasizing the critical importance of these human service programs that serve our neediest neighbors, the harmful effects of budget cuts and the need for a strong domestic program as well as defense spending. The cuts an 8.2% reduction requires would be draconian. It would mean fewer people getting adequate medical care, less mental health care and...