Mercy Hospital: Operation Safety Net

Purpose

As long as there are unsheltered homeless sleeping on our streets, in our abandoned buildings, and along our riverbanks, Operation Safety Net will provide access to health care that is designed to meet their unique needs. Program activities include:

Street Outreach
Walking teams of clinicians and formerly homeless workers provide care in the streets.

Case Management
Patients are given a supportive environment to help them plan their own recovery.

Computerized Database
OSN is a pioneer in applying information technology with health care treatment.

Medical Services Mobile Van
The van is a physician’s office on wheels that travels to distressed areas afflicted by poverty, drugs and crime.

WellSpring Drop-in Clinic
Primary care services, free of charge, are provided in a physician office complex.

Medical Education
OSN trains future physicians and clinicians to provide care to the poor.

Projects
OSN builds community through public health partnerships, housing connections, research studies, and local as well as national leadership roles.

Conception of Operation Safety Net

In 1992, Dr. Jim Withers, an internal medicine physician, began providing medical care to the unsheltered homeless population directly on the streets of Pittsburgh. He partnered with formerly homeless individuals and, initially dressing as a homeless person, began to make nighttime street rounds in the alleys and under the bridges of the city. From this initial outreach service other clinical volunteers joined in and Operation Safety Net was born. Today, OSN is recognized as one of nations’ first targeted full-time street medicine programs and continues to set the standard for this unique form of health care.

Our homeless clients have taught us how to best serve them in the context of their real lives. Through deep, personal connection with individuals, we are able to partner with them to find solutions.