Funded Projects

Engaging Homeless Mothers and Children

Project Year

2022

City & State

Gainesville, Florida

Program Name

CATCH Resident

Topic

Homeless Care

Program Description

"Goal: To provide medical and social services to homeless parents and children living at two homeless shelters (St Francis House and Grace Market Place) in Gainesville, North Central Florida Objectives 1) Use the pediatric subset of HealthStreet data to conduct a data analysis to identify unique barriers to accessing healthcare among children in North Central Florida 2) Link homeless individuals and their children to medical and social services with the help of Community Health Workers (CHW). 3) Conduct quarterly training for CHWs on the 10 most common health concerns identified in North Central Florida and the social determinants of health and vaccine education 4) Schedule impromptu phone call sessions with homeless parents regarding health concerns that cannot be addressed by CHWs 5) Produce educational material, such as pamphlets on the 10 most common pediatric conditions in the community 6) Submit a poster on the determinants of access to healthcare for the pediatric age group in North Central Florida during the university of Florida college of medicine annual research day. Homelessness is a risk factor for adverse health outcomes.(1) Children living in homeless shelters have been known to be at risk for poor nutrition as well as mental and physical health problems.(1) Regardless of one’s age, food, shelter, and healthcare are integral components of Maslow’s hierarchy of human needs. The impact of poor access to these necessities of life is particularly more deleterious in children, especially because they are at an age where they are still developing biologically, mentally, and physically. Furthermore, the inability of their parents to seek medical services because they do not know where these services are or their lack of education about common preventative steps may ultimately lead to negative health outcomes. Nationally, there are barriers to accessing healthcare, especially among homeless children.(2,3) In this regard, community organizations have been successful to a great extent in providing these services. One such program is HealthStreet, a community engagement program in North Central Florida, whose mission is to provide community members with opportunities to participate in research and link them to economical medical and social services. HealthStreet has partnered with many local clinics, charity organizations, food pantries to provide efficient services. This CATCH project will allow me to afford the services of CHWs who at the shelters, will meet with the parents of these children, assess their medical and social needs, provide them with some of the social services, and link them accordingly. At repeated visits, they can assess if there are barriers to accessing these services. Moreover, if there are specific health concerns that CHWs are unable to provide, I will follow up with a phone call to address these concerns. Collaborating with HealthStreet will ensure long-term sustainability even beyond the lifespan of this grant, as HealthStreet will continue to visit these facilities. I will have multiple training sessions with CHWs on health education (create pamphlets), specifically regarding the top 10 health concerns (and vaccines and vaccine myths) as identified by a community needs assessment in the HealthStreet dataset. I will make quarterly visits to these homeless shelters. The intended impact of this project is to provide medical and social services to a vulnerable population at a critical time in their development to prevent long term adverse health outcomes."

Project Goal

Goal: To provide medical and social services to homeless parents and children living at two homeless shelters (St Francis House and Grace Market Place) in Gainesville, North Central Florida

Project Objective 1

Link homeless individuals and their children to medical and social services with the help of Community Health Workers (CHW).

Project Objective 2

Conduct quarterly training for CHWs on the 10 most common health concerns identified in North Central Florida and the social determinants of health and vaccine education

Project Objective 3

Produce educational material, such as pamphlets on the 10 most common pediatric conditions in the community

AAP District

District X

Institutional Name

HealthStreet

Contact 1

Ayodeji Otufowora

Contact 2

Otufowora