Just in time: Second homeless clinic opens as flu season, cold weather arrive

By Timothy Pratt (contact)

Monday, Dec. 1, 2003 | 11:07 a.m.

Just as the flu season is picking up speed in area homes and workplaces, the region's second free clinic for the homeless opened today.

The Healthcare for the Homeless clinic, run by Nevada Health Centers Inc., a nonprofit organization, will make it possible to double the number of homeless people who receive free health care in the valley each day.

Located on West Wilson Avenue at D Street, its doors open when the weather and an existing shortage of care add up to hundreds of sick people living on the streets of the valley, those who work with the homeless said. These patients often strain hospital emergency rooms and rely on the police in emergencies.

"The (clinic opening) is critical -- especially now, because the homeless are decimated by flus and colds," said Metro Sgt. Eric Fricker, who coordinates several police programs to help the homeless.

"It will also help take the pressure off emergency rooms," Fricker added.

The only clinic that currently treats the valley's estimated 10,000 homeless people is run by the same nonprofit organization on the campus of Catholic Charities. It treats about 35 people a day and turns away just as many because of a lack of personnel, said Brian Brooks, special populations representative for Nevada Health Centers.

"For every patient that comes in the door, we have to reschedule another," Brooks said.

The new clinic, located on the campus of the Las Vegas Rescue Mission, will have the same capacity as the downtown clinic, he said. Initially, the clinic will open Mondays, Thursdays, and Fridays, from 7:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., but the schedule will grow in the coming weeks.

The project will cost $320,000 a year and is funded by the Department of Health and Human Services.

Linda Lera-Randle El, director of a nonprofit called Straight from the Streets, spends a lot of time on the streets and in the washes of the valley running across the sort of people that become patients downtown.

"The clinic is really necessary, because the population has so many medical issues and we're so far behind as a community in providing care for them," Lera-Randle El said.

Fricker agreed. "This won't even tip the scales on the side of adequate health care for the homeless ... (but) it's another building block," he said.

Lera-Randle El said another important part of the project is the two outreach workers it will hire around March. Those workers will spend their days looking for homeless people with medical problems.

Currently, only a half-dozen people from different programs -- including two with the downtown clinic -- go to where the homeless are to check on their health and refer them for treatment.

Many of the health problems the homeless have -- whether colds, flus, pneumonia or infections -- are complicated by the exposure and a lack of hygiene that come with living on the streets, Brooks said.

When such health problems aren't treated properly, that life can often lead to early death, he said.

"Any time you can increase access to medical care, especially in underserved populations, it saves lives," he said.