Medical School Hotline: The Hawai‘i Homeless Outreach and Medical Education Project: Servicing the Community and our Medical Students

The Hawai‘i Homeless Outreach and Medical Education (H.O.M.E.) Project was established in 2005 at the John A. Burns School of Medicine (JABSOM). The mission of the program is to improve quality and access to health care for Hawai‘i's homeless, while increasing student and physician awareness and understanding of the homeless and their healthcare needs. The program was created to provide the medical students with a formal curriculum that addressed underserved and homeless health care, areas that previously were not well represented in the curriculum. H.O.M.E. Project operates three student-run, free clinics each week at homeless shelters on O‘ahu; the Next Step Shelter in Kaka‘ako, the Pai‘olu Kaiaulu Shelter in Waianae, and the Onelauena Shelter in Kalaeloa. In addition, the students run a monthly clinic at the First United Methodist Church in Honolulu and conduct outreach services with their mobile health van to service some of O‘ahu's unsheltered homeless at beaches and parks.