In 1985, dueling health crises struck Boston’s ballooning homeless population, an outbreak of tuberculosis and the AIDS epidemic.Little did Dr. Jim O’Connell know then that those factors would help shape his entire career.Fresh out of residency, with plans to become an oncologist, the Harvard educated doctor agreed, for a year, to take a job the city was struggling to fill. He became the founding physician of Boston Healthcare for the Homeless program, BHCHP.“You can do anything for a year, I thought,” O’Connell said.Funded by a grant, the program’s goal was to deliver continuity of care for unhoused people.”I didn’t know anything about homelessness. So, this was just a chance to be a doctor in a world I didn’t know at all,” he said.Having never been inside a shelter, O’Connell was thrust into a clinic at the Pine Street Inn.”Pine Street back then had about six or 700, maybe 800 people,” O’Connell said. “I walked through the door, and it was sheer chaos.”It was also where he met lifechanging mentor, Barbara McInnis, who led a team of nurses.”Barbara gently told me, as she took away my stethoscope…that I would have to sit and just learn from them,” he recalled. “She made me be an apprentice for the first two months.”The challenges of those early days, the TB outbreak and AIDS, and the mandate to provide continuous care convinced Dr. O’Connell to stay on.”They were begging for us, the health system, to treat them like we treat everybody else,” he said. “The last thing they wanted was a series of rotating doctors and nurses who they didn’t know.”today, four decades after that first year, O’Connell has helped to shepherd many firsts, including the first respite program in the country for homeless patients. He also led the first street teams, doctors and nurses who travel across Boston to meet and treat patients where they are.BHCHP was also the nation’s first homeless program to use electronic medical records.O’Connell said there is a special resilience that keeps his team going.“Beneath the tragedy of all this, and believe me, it’s a societal tragedy, there is the ability to make relationships that really sustain clinicians,” he said.
In 1985, dueling health crises struck Boston’s ballooning homeless population, an outbreak of tuberculosis and the AIDS epidemic.
Little did Dr. Jim O’Connell know then that those factors would help shape his entire career.
Fresh out of residency, with plans to become an oncologist, the Harvard educated doctor agreed, for a year, to take a job the city was struggling to fill. He became the founding physician of Boston Healthcare for the Homeless program, BHCHP.
“You can do anything for a year, I thought,” O’Connell said.
Funded by a grant, the program’s goal was to deliver continuity of care for unhoused people.
“I didn’t know anything about homelessness. So, this was just a chance to be a doctor in a world I didn’t know at all,” he said.
Having never been inside a shelter, O’Connell was thrust into a clinic at the Pine Street Inn.
“Pine Street back then had about six or 700, maybe 800 people,” O’Connell said. “I walked through the door, and it was sheer chaos.”
It was also where he met lifechanging mentor, Barbara McInnis, who led a team of nurses.
“Barbara gently told me, as she took away my stethoscope…that I would have to sit and just learn from them,” he recalled. “She made me be an apprentice for the first two months.”
The challenges of those early days, the TB outbreak and AIDS, and the mandate to provide continuous care convinced Dr. O’Connell to stay on.
“They were begging for us, the health system, to treat them like we treat everybody else,” he said. “The last thing they wanted was a series of rotating doctors and nurses who they didn’t know.”
today, four decades after that first year, O’Connell has helped to shepherd many firsts, including the first respite program in the country for homeless patients. He also led the first street teams, doctors and nurses who travel across Boston to meet and treat patients where they are.
BHCHP was also the nation’s first homeless program to use electronic medical records.
O’Connell said there is a special resilience that keeps his team going.
“Beneath the tragedy of all this, and believe me, it’s a societal tragedy, there is the ability to make relationships that really sustain clinicians,” he said.
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