History

1985

BHCHP begins providing comprehensive primary care and dental services at 3 hospital clinics and 14 adult and family shelter clinics.

The Family Team of health care providers is created to focus on the special needs of homeless families living in shelters, hotels and motels.

The Nation's first medical respite program is opened by BHCHP with 5 beds at the Lemuel Shattuck Shelter. These will grow to 25 beds over the next few months.

1993

The Barbara McInnis House opens for medical respite care, the first facility of its kind in the country, providing effective, dignified, around the clock respite care for patients too sick for shelter or the streets but not sick enough to occupy an acute care bed in one of Boston’s hospitals.

The country's first-ever Consumer Advisory Board (CAB) is formed at BHCHP. This group is made up of homeless or formerly homeless men and women and meets monthly to develop BHCHP's advocacy agenda and to provide feedback to help shape programs and policies.

1994

The Street Team expands in response to the growing number of deaths on the streets, to include medical rounds on the street during the day and at Boston Night Center and on the PSI van at night.

BHCHP begins offering behavioral health services to address a growing, unmet need. This service quickly becomes an indispensable aspect of the care provided at virtually every BHCHP site.

2003

The Street Team integrates medical and behavioral health care with the addition of a part-time psychiatrist and licensed clinical social worker.

BHCHP assumes responsibility for the primary care clinics at Pine Street Inn, Long Island Shelter and Woods-Mullen Shelter, three of Boston’s largest homeless shelters.

2009

Jean Yawkey Place meets the growing challenge in its first full year of operation

• 35% more primary care patients
• 33% more dental patients 
• 34% more behavioral health patients
• 7 % more admissions for respite care.
• 200% increase in the services provided at the pharmacy.

The BHCHP Transgender Clinic opens at Jean Yawkey Place in response to the lack of essential health care services for this extremely vulnerable homeless population.

BHCHP's Emergency Preparedness Team leads on-going medical response to H1N1 pandemic by educating all the city's shelter directors as well as in-house staff and patients in how to effectively handle this health crisis.  

2010

• BHCHP honors 25 years of Medicine that Matters
• 33 BHCHP doctors, nurses, physician assistants and nurse practitioners rotate in and out of Haiti for week-long stints to bring urgently needed care to injured earthquake patients
• Board of Directors creates Dennis Buff Bequest Society, honoring a legacy gift from a long-time patient after his passing and inspiring donors to consider including BHCHP in their estate planning

2012

• Community Support Workers are hired to team up with primary care providers to deliver in home care to highly vulnerable, newly housed patients. The innovative home care team reaches out to patients experiencing crises related to medical, social, behavioral health and substance use disorders that may otherwise endanger their tenancy and result in a return to homelessness.
• A specialized and comprehensive system of end-of-life care is developed at the Barbara McInnis House. A multi-disciplinary team—made up of physicians, nurse practitioners, physician assistants, nurses, and aides—have been trained in palliative care and now offer guidance to other McInnis House staff on issues arising with their dying patients
• Barbara McInnis House enhances its services to address substance use disorders with the addition of specialized counselors and twice daily support groups.

BHCHP's BMC Clinic is recognized by the National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA) as an official Patient-Centered Medical Home. This model of care is grounded in a team-based, multidisciplinary approach that identifies patients with enhanced care needs and focuses on care coordination and quality.

CEO, Bob Taube, retires and long-time BHCHP staff member, Barry Bock, takes the helm.

2014

BHCHP receives the American Academy of Physician Assistants Caring for Communities award. This award recognizes and supports the work of PAs and PA students who make a difference in the lives of people struggling with a variety of health and social issues.

In response to longer shelter and motel stays for homeless families, BHCHP’s Family Team establishes primary care clinics at Crittenton Women’s Union and St. Mary’s Center for Women & Children. These new clinics allow more long-term care that includes immunizations, some diagnostic testing, developmental screening for children, parent education, oral health screenings, and smoking cessation.

BHCHP launches its own chapter of Back on My Feet, a national organization helping homeless people transform their lives through running. Staff and volunteers meet patients 3 days each week to run or walk with them.

The bridge to Long Island closes and more than 700 homeless men and women are displaced from shelters and treatment programs. In response, BHCHP shelters 45 women in its JYP Atrium every night from October through June and establishes a temporary clinic at the South End Fitness Center until the city's new shelter is open.

2015

As part of its response to the Long Island Bridge closure and one of the coldest, snowiest winters in history, BHCHP funds the re-opening of the Night Center, a drop-in center for homeless men and women. There were no deaths of homeless persons due to hypothermia or exposure that winter.

A partnership with Bridge Over Troubled Waters is formed and health care services are provided to homeless youth in Boston through a nurse practitioner and health educator from BHCHP.

Stories from the Shadows: Reflections of a Street Doctor by Dr. Jim O’Connell is published.

BHCHP recognizes its 30th anniversary of providing medicine that matters to greater Boston’s men, women, and children who are homeless.