ZVMS Street Medicine:
Providing Direct Care

ZVMS Street Medicine:
Providing Direct Care

Providing Direct Care for People Experiencing Unstable Housing

ZVMS Street Medicine provides direct care to people experiencing unstable housing through:

Community Clinics and Satellite Clinics

The Community Clinics are concentrated one-day events. We then disperse the skills and supplies to smaller drop-in Satellite Clinics. Community Clinics have concentrated on foot care, dermatology, and eye care.

Street Rounds

In the Street Rounds, a physician, medical student, and community partner visit people in encampments, under bridges, and on street corners to identify the medical and social services they need.

Community Clinics

Community Clinics are one-day events in locations familiar to our unhoused community members, with concentrated personnel, funds, and supplies.

We have held the following community clinics:

  • Foot care, December 2022, The Landing MN (local day center), 60 guests
  • Eye care, May 2023, The Landing MN, 75 guests (33 received no-cost prescription glasses)
  • Eye care, December 2023, Christ United Methodist Church, 167 guests (105 prescription glasses)
  • Dermatology, April 2024, Zumbro Lutheran Church, 49 guests
  • Eye care, June 2024, CUMC, 90 guests (75 prescription glasses)
  • Dermatology, November 2024, CUMC, 50 guests
  • Eye care, January 2025, CUMC, 76 guests (67 prescription glasses)
  • Dermatology, April 2025, Zumbro Lutheran Church, 71 guests
  • Eye care, June 2025, CUMC, 85 guests (65 prescription glasses)
  • Dermatology, October 2025, CUMC, 39 guests
  • Heart care, November 2025, CUMC, 25 guests
  • Eye care, December 2025, CUMC, 100 guests (75 prescription glasses)
  • Heart care, March 14, CUMC, 17 guests
  • Dermatology, May 2026, CUMC, 54 guests
  • Eye care, May 2026, CUMC, 154 guests (100 prescription glasses)
  • Joint and muscle care, June 2026, CUMC, 46 guests

Trainings for Medical Students

Prior to the community clinics, we hold trainings for Mayo Clinic Alix School of Medicine (MCASOM) medical student volunteers. For example, the eye care clinic training includes learning or reviewing ophthalmology terms, exams, and expectations of each clinic station.

Satellite Clinics

Following the one-day Community Clinics, we then disperse the skills and supplies to smaller, more regular Satellite Clinics at additional sites.

After the December 2022 foot care clinic, teams of physicians and medical students now offer weekly foot soaks at the Dorothy Day Hospitality House. We also offer monthly foot spas at permanent supportive housing locations.

We will incorporate the skills and supplies from our eye care clinics into our Satellite Clinics.

Financial and Material Support for Inaugural Foot Care Clinic

We are grateful to everyone who contributed financial and material resources to the inaugural foot care clinic

The Rochester Area Foundation Better Communities Fall 2022 grant

The ZVMS Alliance members and guests for their donations during their November brunch

The ZVMS members who donated through the  ZVMS Foundation‘s GiveMN campaign

Hippy Feet for their donation of over 1,100 pairs of socks

Many thanks to . . .

We are grateful to the following individuals, agencies, and businesses for supporting the work of the Street Medicine Initiative:

Sources for Data on People Experiencing Homelessness in Olmsted County

As we learned from helping with the 2022 Point in Time (PIT) Count, the exact numbers of people experiencing homelessness in our community can be difficult to obtain. We count who we can identify. 

Here are two websites to consult for numbers and demographics:

River Valleys CoC (Continuum of Care)

and

Wilder Foundation

Street Rounds

In Street Rounds, a physician, medical student, and community partner visit people in encampments, under bridges, and on street corners to identify the medical and social services they need.

Central to our work is a recognition of the need to build trust and gain rapport in serving a population that has traditionally faced trauma and stigma.

We know that it can take ten or more touchpoints before people become open to changing behavior and seeking care.

Therefore, in our street rounds, we use a broad definition of what constitutes a “medical consultation.”

We consider all of the following to be a medical consultation in the process of building trust:

  • a greeting, even if the individual declines further services
  • an offer of water and/or a hygiene kit, which may or may not be accepted
  • an offer of medical advice, guidance, or knowledge
  • an offer — and perhaps the provision — of treatment onsite
  • the recommendation of an emergency department evaluation
  • the recommendation of follow-up care with a primary care, free clinic, or specialty provider

Interested in Street Medicine?

Interested in efforts to address

homelessness in

Minnesota, Olmsted County, and/or

Rochester?

Click on the “Become Involved” button 

below to let us know.

Become involved

Inspired by the work of

Dr. Withers, the founder of the

Street Medicine Institute? 

Learn more about the

Street Medicine Institute here