Street Medicine

Talking to the STREETs: Building Bridges to Health Care for the Unhoused

ETSU Health Family Medicine's street medicine program brings care directly to people experiencing homelessness while training resident physicians through hands-on, community-based learning. Family Medicine was awarded a $2.4 million Health Resources and Services Administration training grant to fully fund the program.

Certain program and community support costs are not covered by HRSA funding, and additional support helps us continue providing those important services to our community.

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Curriculum

All Family Medicine residents participate in our Street Medicine curriculum during their dedicated didactic time throughout their residency. Our curriculum focuses on strong interprofessional collaboration and community-based expertise in various topics related to Street Medicine. We also understand and have priortized the importance of having people with lived experience educate our residents.

• Street Medicine Curriculum Topics

  Including, but not limittied to:

  • Cultural Humility
  • Trauma-informed care
  • Harm Reduction
  • Addiction Medicine
  • Behaviorial Health
  • Medical-Legal Partnerships
  • De-escalation Techniques
  • Chronic Disease Management

Rotation

Residents can pursue a two-week elective, one-month equivalent or two-month equivalent longitudinal rotation focused on providing comprehensive, collaborative care for neighbors experiencing homelessness.

The rotation includes experiences at multiple sites across Johnson City, including the Downtown Day Center FQHC, Frontier Health with a focus on caring for individuals experiencing or who have experienced domestic violence, as well as encampment and street rounds.

Upon completing the longitudinal rotation, residents gain experience providing care in a variety of settings and develop the skills needed to pursue Street Medicine in future practice.

• Rotation Skills:

  Including, but not limittied to:

  • Teamwork
  • Resource Navigation
  • Direct patient care
  • Minor procedures
  • POCUS
  • Self-care

• Kingsport Street Medicine Team rotation planned to start August 2026. 
• Bristol Street Medicine Team rotation planned to start August 2027.  

Program Goals

• Equip family medicine residents with the knowledge, skills and resources necessary to provide competent, compassionate and effective care to individuals experiencing homelessness. 
• Expand access to care for people experiencing homelessness and housing insecurity through outreach-based care models in non-traditional care settings.
• Empower resident doctors to use their clinical voice and practice to promote policies and systems to benefit their community and vulnerable community members.
• Connect patients with medical, behaviorial health and social support services both within ETSU and within our communtiy-based partners.
• Strengthen parternships with local community organizations.

Program Leadership

The Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) provided financial support for this project. The award provided 100% of total costs and totaled $2,439,093. The contents are those of the author. They may not reflect the policies of HRSA, HHS, or the U.S. Government.