WWW.
One local
parish is
pioneering a
way to help
people on the
street keep track
o f their medical
records and
health care
needs
PH Ü TO COURTESY OF
D O W N T O W N CHAPEL
BY STACY BROWNHILL
STA FF W R IT E R
T T o w much good can a small red pouch, zip
|—I tie and sheet of paper do for someone living
A . A o n the streets? Turns out, a lot.
Downtown Chapel is pioneering an innovative,
potentially life-saving program for medically
vulherable people experiencing homelessness
called the Vial of Life program. It’s actually an
adaptation of a nationally established program used
by people who have homes, applied now to those
who do not.
Homeless participants can fill o ut a one-page
sheet listing medical illnesses, prescriptions,
emergency contacts, allergies and blood type, stuff
it into a red plastic pouch no bigger than an index
card, and attach it to their backpack. The “vial”
provides an easily identifiable, relatively reliable
record to emergency personnel, and Downtown
Chapel keeps a copy in case the original is lost
Since June, around.40 homeless individuals have
participated in the Vial of Life program at
Downtown Chapel, meeting one-on-one for a few
minutes with volunteer nursing students from
University of Portland who help them fill out
medical information and even call pharmacies if
there are questions about prescriptions.
.Reviews by participants have been “over the
moon,” says Andrew Noethe, pastoral associate at
Downtown Chapel who is overseeing the
implementation ofthe Vial of Life program in
collaboration with parish nurse Sharon
Christenson. Participant Michelle says she
recommends it to other friends oil the street who
have seizures or diabetes and thinks there should
be “a lot more awareness” about the Vial, of Life
program.
So far, people seem eager to sign up for the
program. “When you’re vulnerable and sick, you
know it,” says Michelle.
Diabetes, seizures and cognitive disabilities are
at the top ofthe list of health issues that the Vial
of Life program hopes to track. The health record
may be largely self-reported, but the volunteer
nursing students at Downtown Chapel “help ask
the right questions in a sáfe place,” says Noethe.
“Sometimes a participant will just open their bag
and show a nurse all the pills they’ve been taking,
and that’s helpful if EMTs pick that person up,” he
says.
Piloted with Northwest Parish Nurse Ministries
and Providence Health Systems, the Vial of Life
program is ah enormous boon for homeless health
care in Portland. Street Roots’ series on traumatic
brain injuries, including our story “The good, the
bad and the ugly — tracking health care for the
homeless” (Street Roots, June 24), outlined how
tracking and addressing health care on the streets
is a nationwide struggle^ with rare, success and
common Complaints of cost, time and privacy
hurdles.
People who are homeless are often mobile,
without health insurance, especially vulnerable to
injuries and illness, and prime candidates for
reduced recollection, often the result of past
trauma ór head injuries.
Emergency personnel, including EMTs, police
and Central City Concern^ CHIERS staff, are
frequently forced to rely on guesswork when it
comes to helping sick people on thè streets.
For instance, last yearmore than .8,400
inebriated people were picked up off the streets
and taken to Hooper Sobering Center on NE
Burnside and MLK. “One of thè first questions
Read more about
health care
challenges for people
experiencing
homelessness through
our series on
traumatic brain injury.
Past stories are
available at www.
streetroots.wordpress.
com
See LIFE, page 7
Inside
‘It’s time for
them to go home’
New laws change
the way the Oregon
State Hospital
admits, releases
patients
Page 3
John Miller
A talk with the new
executive director o f the
Oregon Opportunity
Network
Page 4
A voice for the
most vulnerable
Sue Hyde talks about
the complicated
pressures place don
L G B T youths
Page 8