Partnership Profile: Homeless Healthcare

November 20, 2019

Our partnerships with organisations who help to support our residents and tenants are an integral part of delivering on our mission to make a difference to the lives of people in need.   One of these partners is Homeless Healthcare, a not for profit organisation that provides a weekly visiting GP service to the residents of our largest lodging house, located on Hampton Road in Fremantle.

Foundation Housing staff take bookings for Homeless Healthcare’s weekly visit and will often encourage residents they think would benefit from seeing a doctor to attend the free clinic. The consultations are conducted with privacy and dignity in a meeting room within the lodge we make available for the clinic.  The service ensures that vulnerable residents who may otherwise not seek medical attention have access to a consistent and accessible primary healthcare service.

Our staff appreciate being able to raise concerns their concerns about specific residents with Homeless Healthcare and receiving advice from their doctor and nurse about how to support the resident. The partnership between Foundation Housing and Homeless Healthcare also means that residents are able to obtain important specialist referrals and access to other services that require a doctor’s recommendation. The communication between our two organisations is essential in this regard, as Foundation Housing staff know the residents well and can help to identify when someone is in need of additional medical help or support and encourage them to attend an appointment.   For example, when our staff observe that someone is less capable of living independently due to factors such as age, mobility or dementia and may need to begin the process of transitioning to aged care accommodation.

These referrals also mean that other organisations become part of a team supporting residents, for example UnitingCare West provide NDIS assessments to Hampton Road residents so that people can access resources to better manage living with a disability, including mental health conditions. Thanks to the service Homeless Healthcare provide, a very vulnerable group of people are better able to stabilise and engage with their community.