UB HEALS continues to bring care and compassion to Buffalo’s unhoused citizens

Showing up. If you had to boil down the mission at the heart of UB HEALS to two words, that would be it.

Since 2016, when the organization was founded at the Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences at UB, the UB HEALS students have been showing up for Buffalo’s unhoused population. In the spring and fall, they do it at the bus station on Ellicott Street and in the winter they do it at the City Mission. They do it every Tuesday and Thursday evening without fail.

“We take pride in being consistent,” says Sarah Bukhari, a second-year student and public relations manager for UB HEALS.

Jashanpreet Chahal, assistant program manager in the organization and a second-year student, agrees. “The first time I went on rounds I saw how consistent commitment to a population builds so much trust,” she says. “They wait for UB HEALS to come every Tuesday and Thursday. They look forward to it. These community members want to have conversations with us. They want us to learn about their experiences.”

Established in 2016 by Jacobs School students, led by Moudi Houbieshy, then in his second-year, UB HEALS stands for UB Homeless Health, Education, Awareness and Leadership in Street Medicine. It is the Jacobs School’s street medicine outreach initiative, which works  to increase access to healthcare for Buffalo’s unhoused population while shaping medical education.

Every Tuesday and Thursday, the students show up either at the City Mission or at the bus station, depending on the season, pulling wheeled suitcases filled with snacks, clothes and personal hygiene supplies along with medical supplies for routine screenings and basic wound care. Among the items they provide are Clif bars, cookies, razors, underwear, nail kits, earplugs and toothbrushes. Narcan is also available.

One evening last spring at the bus station, people began wandering over when they saw the students setting up tables and opening suitcases. A line began to form.

“Our goal is to provide necessities for people that don’t have housing, such as hygiene kits, snacks and electrolyte packets,” says Jillian Greenberg, UB HEALS program manager and a second-year MD candidate. “We do clothing drives so we can offer clothes to keep people warm and we always bring a physician preceptor who can offer counseling and referrals.”

All items are donated by individuals, UB HEALS’ partners or other organizations and companies, such as the Bombas company, which has donated thousands of socks. Students are accompanied on their rounds by at least one physician from the Jacobs School or the community; local nurses and community health workers also participate.

Under their supervision, the Jacobs School students perform glucose tests, take blood pressure, provide wound care and, where appropriate, provide over-the-counter medications. They have access to a small anteroom at the bus station where they can provide treatment in a more private setting if necessary.

Many of the clients are well-known to the students. One of them, who has been unhoused from time to time, has been coming to UB HEALS for years for wound care. The students clean and dress his wounds regularly. When he needs more intensive care, they refer him to clinics.

While the screenings and care are important, it’s the interactions with the students that seem most beneficial.

“They helped me find a primary care provider,” said one client of UB HEALS, adding that he often heads to the bus station when he knows the students will be there. “Mostly, I talk to the students. I come for the conversation.”

Most people the UB Heals students see lack insurance. When additional care is needed, they make referrals to UB’s student-run Lighthouse Clinic or Jericho Road Community Health Center. But UB HEALS also sees people who do have insurance but are reluctant to seek help, often because of healthcare system experiences that haven’t been positive.

While it began in the Jacobs School, UB HEALS now includes students from the School of Dental Medicine, the School of Public Health and Health Professions, the School of Nursing, the School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences and the School of Social Work. Clients benefit from these additional perspectives.

And while their focus is on the people they are helping, the students in UB HEALS realize multiple benefits as well, which Greenberg says has been a focus of the Jacobs School in general.

“Something the Jacobs School did really well at the beginning of our education was that it offered a curriculum very centered on medicine and society,” she says. Early on, students learn about health disparities in Buffalo. Greenberg says this is especially important for students who aren’t from the area, to learn about the reasons for poverty in the city, such as historical redlining and racial segregation, and how they have impacted poor health outcomes.

“Chronic diseases are more prevalent in certain populations,” she says. “In unhoused people of color, almost every chronic disease is more prevalent.”

David Milling, senior associate dean for medical education and UB HEALS faculty advisor, notes, “The UB HEALS program is an amazing way to give students a different perspective about our community, which is one of the poorest in the state and with some of the worst health outcomes. UBHEALS gives our students an incredible opportunity to make a closer connection with this community and to find out what this community needs from us.”

Owen Cheeseman, an advocate with Neighborhood Health Centers, a partner of UB HEALS that does outreach as well, often shows up when UB HEALS comes to the bus station. “We love working with the UB students,” he says. “You don’t see many doctors doing this kind of outreach on a weekly basis. It’s consistent. This is what I want to show up for.”