Long a niche, street medicine for homeless heads mainstream

By MICHAEL RUBINKAM
Posted: Mar. 10, 2016 8:00 am Updated: Mar. 10, 2016 3:04 pm

ALLENTOWN, Pa. (AP) — They’re house calls without the house.

Far from the sterile confines of a doctor’s office or hospital, Brett Feldman looks for homeless people where they’re most likely to be found — in wooded encampments, under bridges, along riverbanks, at soup kitchens — and treats them for ailments ranging from diabetes to trench foot, mental illness to substance abuse.

The 34-year-old physician assistant is one of the nation’s few practitioners of “street medicine,” a tiny health care niche that advocates predict will become more mainstream as hospitals and health care systems seek to cut costs, in part by reducing emergency-room visits among the homeless.

Read more here: http://www.njherald.com/article/20160310/AP/303109938#