Homelessness is a serious national and international issue, with significant implications for societal health. It is such a complicated and multifaceted issue to address, and it needs much more attention than it has currently. Alongside discussions on how to house homeless individuals, it is important to discuss how to help increase this populations overall health. The homeless population is one of the most medically at-risk patient populations. Existing research has shown that homeless individuals are at a higher risk for developing ill health and disease. They face numerous barriers to obtaining health care, and have many competing priorities. As a result, they are more likely to present to hospitals and clinics with advanced stages of disease that could have been prevented, or treated more easily earlier. Overall, the homeless population is at such a high risk of developing disease due to a variety of factors. Some of which are, their chronic exposure to the elements and other ill people, a lack of access to hygiene facilities or healthy food, and certain advantageous preventative resources. Past research has focused on interventions such as housing first over healthcare, and mobile clinical services, but they take a great deal of time and money to be fully realized. It is important to expand resources to include smaller, more feasible, preventative provisions for conditions that homeless individuals are more susceptible to such as skin cancer, tooth decay and loss, and others. More research into practical interventions, which can help improve the health and hygiene of homeless population, will close a gap in the current medical literature. This thesis focuses on practical prevention efforts for the homeless in the form of, SPF 70 spray sunscreen, hard bristled toothbrushes, sugarless gum, body wipes, dry shampoo, hand sanitizer, and more. These scientifically backed interventions can be immediately incorporated into the resources that community healthcare centers, shelters, or any other related homeless care facilities, provide. These supplies should improve homeless individuals’ health and quality of life while waiting for larger interventions such as housing, or free clinics, to be implemented. Importantly, these resources can help to bring an end to this current period in time in which homeless individuals are left to wait for any form of preventative or curative health care. As Ben Carson recently said, “Leaving [the] homeless unsheltered, unhealthy, and unsafe is a human tragedy and unacceptable.”
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bu.edu/oai:open.bu.edu:2144/41717 |
| Date | 23 November 2020 |
| Creators | Rollinger, Laura |
| Contributors | Symes, Karen, Offner, Gwynneth |
| Source Sets | Boston University |
| Language | en_US |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis/Dissertation |
| Rights | Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International, http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/ |
Page generated in 0.0018 seconds