Corewell Health’s Street Medicine Oakland Program

Corewell Health William Beaumont University Hospital, in collaboration with the Oakland University William Beaumont School of Medicine, established a collaborative community outreach program called Street Medicine Oakland that provides free medical care to patients experiencing homelessness in Oakland County. The program is comprised of a team of volunteer medical students, resident physicians and emergency medicine attending physicians who go outside the traditional walls of a hospital weekly to meet patients where they are, whether it’s on the street or in a shelter. Corewell Health clinicians focus on building trust with these vulnerable populations to provide essential care for acute and chronic conditions that may have otherwise gone untreated, intervening before a patient requires a costly emergency department or hospital visit. The team also partners with other community organizations and resources to address social determinants of health so patients continue to have access to medical care, health insurance, housing, food and transportation.