Street Side Medics, based in New South Wales, is a mobile medical service with the mission to offer exceptional standard healthcare to the homeless community.
Launching in 2020, Founder Dr Daniel Nour realised that the health of the underprivileged and vulnerable members of our society was not being recognised or considered in our national health scheme. This led to an idea to start a mobile medical clinic that addresses the multiple health disparities experienced by the homeless and allows them to easily access healthcare.
““Whilst I was living at Waterloo in Central London I witnessed a number of acute medical emergencies. One of these was a homeless man having a seizure for over 5 minutes. Due to my medical training, I was able to go and assist and ensured someone called the paramedics. Upon discussion with some of the man’s friends, who were also experiencing homelessness, they admitted that he frequently gets seizures despite “being clean and off drugs”. Despite their encouragement, he resisted going to a GP due to the costs, long wait time and inherent barriers to accessing the health service. It was at this point I knew a better solution had to be made and came up with the idea of Street Side Medics.””
DR DANIEL NOUR, FOUNDER OF STREETSIDE MEDICS
The Street Side Medics Van arrives at the same location at the same time each week so the doctors can build ongoing relationships with the patients. Each van is fitted with the necessary equipment and a general practitioner is onboard for every visit.
Street Side Medics offers a variety of services including general health check-ups, skin checks, pathology, vaccinations, minor surgical repairs, scripts and referrals.
There are no personal charges to patients meaning the patient can come forward and address any medical needs and not worry about the stresses of being able to afford the service. It also means that this organisation exists on the basis of donations.
““Often at times it takes weeks if not months to build trust and rapport with patients. Our service is built on this trust and mutual respect which always is gained and not earned.” ”
DR DANIEL NOUR, FOUNDER OF STREETSIDE MEDICS
““We aim to have a clinic in every LHD in NSW, as well as expand our services interstate within the next 12 months. There are currently 116,000 homeless people in Aus - the goal is to alleviate the complex challenging barriers which limit access to medical care for each and every one of them.””
DR DANIEL NOUR, FOUNDER OF STREETSIDE MEDICS
HOW YOU CAN HELP:
As a not-for-profit organisation, a donation allows Streetside Medics to continue providing our services, by equipping their vans with necessary medical equipment and supporting their volunteers.
In recognition of World Homeless Day, October 10, DECJUBA is committed to enabling Street Side Medics to provide their services by equipping vans with necessary medical equipment.
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