In the four years since the inception of ZVMS Street Medicine, we have been thrilled with the willingness and enthusiasm of medical students, physicians, community partners, and individuals with lived experience to join together to serve our unhoused neighbors. 

ZVMS Street Medicine recognizes that people experiencing unstable housing often face barriers to health care. To alleviate these barriers, we know that providing direct care is not enough. Therefore, ZVMS Street Medicine uses its spheres of influence as an organization of physicians and physicians-in-training to:

(1) Provide direct care to people in their own environments, through

• Street rounds
• Community clinics and their satellites

(2) Train the medical community to deliver high quality, compassionate healthcare outside of clinical settings, through

• Street medicine selective (optional elective) at the Mayo Clinic Alix School of Medicine (MCASOM)
• Street medicine content added to the required Science of Health Care Delivery coursework at the Mayo Clinic Alix School of Medicine (MCASOM)

(3) Advocate for changes in systems and processes that affect the healthcare that people receive, such as

• Improvements in hospital discharge processes for patients experiencing unstable housing
• Development of recuperative care/medical respite services in Olmsted County and statewide