Our Crowdfunding Groups
Thank you for visiting the 2018 UB Heals crowdfunding campaign site. This campaign has completed but you're in luck, the 2019 UB Heals campaign is underway. Go to the following link to check out what we're up to now!
UB HEALS (Homeless health, Education, Awareness, and Leadership in Street Medicine) is a student run street medicine outreach initiative of the Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences at the University at Buffalo. Our medical street outreach team aims to engage with the homeless of Buffalo reconnecting them to the health care system and improving their health outcomes.
ABOUT UB HEALS:
We are out in the community every Tuesday and Thursday. Our team travels to the bus station, various shelters, and/or walks the streets with healthcare and outreach professionals equipped with supplies, basic medications, clothing and other necessities for living. We strive to care for acute needs, connect patients with long-term care, and build trusting relationships with a historically underserved population.
OUR MISSION:
To increase access to health care among the homeless population of Buffalo, NY by directly improving their overall health and influencing medical education. As a student-run project, we seek to address the unique medical and psychosocial needs of the homeless population while providing a valuable educational experience for medical students.
SINCE OUR INCEPTION IN SPRING 2016:
UB HEALS has conducted approximately 230 rounds and 2.500 patient encounters. These encounters include services such as:
To learn more visit, our website at https://www.ubheals.org/
UB HEALS IN THE NEWS
UB News: UB HEALS wins one grant, seeks another
WKBW: University at Buffalo students help the homeless
The Buffalo News: UB med students make their rounds on Buffalo streets, shelters
WGRZ: UB HEALS helps Buffalo's homeless population
WNY Papers: Next Generation United picks UB HEALS as top winner in Pitch 10 Competition
WIVB: UB Medical students take different approach to patient care
Spectrum: UB Med students Take Health Care to the Streets
American Medical Association: Members Move Medicine: Helping patients wherever they are
STORIES FROM THE STREETS:
Members of the UB HEALS team reflect on their experiences with street medicine:
"I think that’s the coolest part of what we do. We meet our friends where they’re at and love them for who they are... we get to know them by name, shake their hand, hug them and say, 'Hey I see you. I won’t walk right by. How are you? How have you been? I know last week you didn’t want to talk much but we’re back and will be every week. Is there anything I can help you with today?'" - Nick, 3rd year medical student
"Our goal at the outset of street rounds, was simply to be a reliable presence in the community, and to project that there were healthcare professionals who specifically cared about the homeless. We ... considered rounds successful when we sat, learned someone’s name, and introduced our program’s mission, which is to meet our homeless friends where they’re at, and help them get to a place where they are interested in seeking primary care, taking care of the more routine needs until that time." - Amanda, 4th year medical student
"It puts medicine in a light I had never envisioned it in by enabling us to use our skills to help people in even bigger ways than medicine alone." - Ilana, 2nd year medical student
"The brief interactions with our team members do not always result in immediate change, but having people say "I will make sure you get what you need on Thursday" gives some continuity and a small glimmer of hope in an incredibly difficult situation." - Natasha, 3rd year medical student
"The UB HEALS family came from all sorts of different backgrounds and experiences, but we had to work together for a greater purpose, helping the homeless population." - Marta, 3rd year medical student
"UB HEALS helped me realize that it’s not enough to treat those who happen to walk through your door. We can always do more to help, do better to connect with others, and empower others to help themselves." - Bryan, 3rd medical student
"That is what we do at UB HEALS, we fight preconceptions with persistence and offer the opportunity over and over for individuals to help themselves. I will take the lesson of the power of honestly, persistence, and genuine caring forever with me as I go forward in my career"- Matt, 3rd year medical student
"The simple and elegant beauty of UB HEALS is that it recognizes and appreciates the humanity in people... UB HEALS and the work we strive to do for the Buffalo homeless community has taught me about what it truly means to have humility and compassion." - Christine, 2nd year medical student
"Student contributors to UB HEALS ... mature into more compassionate and understanding practitioners, develop close personal connections..., better understand local community outreach efforts, foster long-lasting relationships with patients, and gain additional experience with patients, leading to the development of a superior practical skill set." - Jake, 2nd year medical student
"Going through the problem-solving process, and directing individuals to resources during rounds has imparted to me knowledge about some of the challenges that homeless individuals often face, such as lack of transportation, mistrust of the medical profession, and absence of continuous and integrated care. However, it has also developed the skills that will assist me in surmounting them." - Sneha, 2nd year medical student
HOMELESSNESS IN ERIE COUNTY
REASONS FOR HOMELESSNESS
Provide 1 "prescription for warmth" pack helping to keep individuals safe from hypothermia and frostbite
Provide our patients with necessities like glucose monitors and wound care treatment.
Dr. Jim Withers founded the practice of street medicine in Pittsburgh, PA 25 years ago. He has started a world wide movement that UB HEALS is honored to contribute to.
At 32 degrees F "Code Blue" goes into effect, helping people get off the streets into warm shelters
The city of Buffalo is 52.5 sq miles that UB HEALS travels providing medical services at no cost.
85 cities world wide are currently doing street medicine outreach. UB HEALS is putting Buffalo on the map!
UB HEALS conducts 104 "street rounds" each year. Twice a week, our team takes to the streets to meet patients where they are at, and help address their medical, emotional and psychosocial needs.
The zip code of the Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences where future physicians get more than just the classroom experience
Since 2016, UB HEALS has spent upwards of 250 nights providing outreach to our friends who live on the streets and in shelters.
all money donated helps the lives of our neighbors in the 716 area code
Since we started our work, UB HEALS has conducted over 2,500 patient encounters- working hard to improve the health and well being of homeless individuals and families
