The medical professionals had stepped away from their street practices to begin drafting Canada’s first set of evidence-based guidelines on homeless health treatment — recommendations that have been tried and were proved successful. “They’re assuming that everyone who’s homeless has a primary physician,” said Lalonde, who lived in women’s shelters in Ottawa until securing housing in 2015. In fact, he is fulfilling the role he and Lalonde were recruited for by holding the proposed treatment guidelines up against their own experiences on the streets. Pottie brings an expertise in the rigorous methods for drafting guidelines and a background working with disadvantaged communities, including immigrants and refugees. One group of doctors broke away to discuss the benefits of income supplements — another acknowledgement of the non-medical factors at play in the homeless-health equation.

Source: thestar November 20, 2017 02:03 UTC