CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (KCRG) – For the past several weeks students with Cornell College have been working on-site at Willis Dady Emergency Shelter and Day Center to get firsthand experience with clients. It’s part of their annual Summer Research Institute. One key focus point has been on what’s called street medicine.
“Street medicine is more direct. So it’s social workers and doctors who go out together actively on the street and they provide care to people on the street, they provide ongoing care so if somebody’s in the hospital or something and they need follow-up care, they’ll do that,” said student Oriana McKanan.
One of the professors spear-heading this particular research says one of the things students have learned about is the delay in care among this population.
“Think about how hard it is when you’re sick or you have a disease and you have stable housing. That’s amplified for these folks. Their diagnosis come later, their ability to get treatment comes later, and we shouldn’t be basically throwing away a portion of our population,” said Professor Tori Barnes-Brus.
Not only will they use this information in their own education, but it will also help assist Willis Dady serve their clients as well
“The work and research that they do for us is huge so we’re able to take those ideas and advocate for our clients with our community partners and across the community,” said Willis Dady Street Outreach Program Director Kelsey Culver.
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