Under the Safety Net: The Health and Social Welfare of the Homeless in the United States - Softcover

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0393308758 ISBN 13: 9780393308754

Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company, 1992

Synopsis

Under the Safety Net is a searing call to action for every citizen. America is not America unless we work together to do what it takes to end the worsening crisis of homelessness in our affluent society. ―Senator Edward Kennedy

This book records the many lessons learned from a truly extraordinary national experiment. The Health Care for the Homeless Program mobilized forces in nineteen big cities to reach out and bring critically needed services to homeless persons. Because of extraordinary commitment and energy of all those in nineteen cities who rose to the challenge and because of the hard work of new partners (such as Comic Relief) picked up along the way, these goals have, in the main, been realized. At the same time the very existence of the Health Care for the Homeless Program reflects the major failure or our nation’s health care system, the failure to provide basic health coverage to more than thirty-five million of our citizens.

About this title

About the Author:

Linda Keen Scharer received her master’s degree in urban planning from New York University. She is presently assistant director of the Department of Community Medicine at St. Vincent’s Hospital and Medical Center of New York. In addition to her work with the homeless, Ms. Scharer has written extensively on home health care issues and serves on the editorial board of the PRIDE Institute’s Journal of Long-Term Home Health Care.

Barbara A. Conanan is director of the SRO/Homeless Program within the Department of Community Medicine at St. Vincent Hospital and Medical Center of New York. She has served in this capacity since January 1983. In addition, Ms. Conanan gives direct patient care as a community health nurse. Prior to her employment at St. Vincent’s, she worked at the Manhattan Bowery Corporation as supervisor in an outpatient clinic that provided services to chronic alcoholics.

From Library Journal:

In 1984 the Health Care for the Homeless Project (HCHP) was launched to provide health and social services to the homeless in 19 major American cities. With $25 million in funds from two major foundations, HCHP served over 100,000 clients in a five-year period. This book, edited by the director of community medicine at New York's St. Vincent Hospital, offers case studies and personal observations of HCHP workers. As a whole, these perspectives provide a summary of how and why the project was created and detail the successes and pitfalls of operating community health programs. Most of the accounts are concerned with the major medical problems of the homeless--AIDS, tuberculosis, hypertension, mental illness--and the challenge of caring for people often unable to provide themselves with food and shelter. Although the contributors are obviously most used to writing for other professionals, their from-the-front-lines reporting vividly illustrates the tragedy of homelessness in America. Highly recommended.
- Karen McNally Bensing, The Benjamin Rose Inst. Lib., Cleveland
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
• Publication date: 1992
• ISBN 10: 0393308758
• ISBN 13: 9780393308754
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 464
• Editor: Brickner Philip, Scharer MUP Linda Keen, Conanan RN MS Barbara A.