Host Joe Mathieu spoke with Dr. Joe Wright, the director of Boston Health Care for the Homeless' Addiction Treatment Program, about how he and his colleagues are helping patients during the pandemic. The transcript has been edited for clarity.
Boston is one of the few other U.S. cities where an entire shelter population was tested, with similar widespread infections found.
At Boston’s Pine Street Inn, the region’s largest homeless center, 146 of the 397 people tested — or about 36 percent — were positive for the virus. As in San Francisco, most showed no signs of illness.
These are larger numbers than we ever anticipated,” said Dr. Jim O’Connell, president of Boston Health Care for the Homeless Program. “Asymptomatic spread is something we’ve underestimated overall, and it’s going to make a big difference.”
“The 1,000 bed field hospital was built inside the Boston Convention Center. It will serve as overflow for people who do not need critical medical care, as well as homeless people who have tested positive for the virus. It is the largest field hospital in the Commonwealth, organized by Partners Health Care and Boston Health Care for the Homeless.”
“They are speaking to the media under a massive logo that said, “Boston Hope,” at the 1,000-bed field hospital set up at the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center. Half the beds are reserved for overflow hospital patients who aren’t in need of critical care, half for homeless people who have tested positive for the virus.” Watch more here!
And then there are the clinicians and case managers with whom he worked at Boston Health Care for the Homeless Program, a respite clinic for people experiencing homelessness. Petrovsky remembers a “compassionate and culturally competent: staff that worked tirelessly not only to address their clients’ health needs, but helped connect them with resources to housing and social services.
They not only listened to their patients’ needs, but heard them,” he says.
Dr. Jim O'Connell, President of Boston Healthcare for the Homeless, said no one expected this kind of asymptomatic spread. Listen to Dr. O'Connell here.
