‘Firehouse Clinic’ opens in Kalamazoo, giving medical care to homeless community

KALAMAZOO, MI — Homeless individuals in downtown Kalamazoo have a new resource for seeking medical care.

Western Michigan University Homer Stryker School of Medicine has opened the “WMed Firehouse Clinic” at 526 N. Burdick St. to treat homeless and economically disadvantaged patients in downtown Kalamazoo.

The clinic is inside a former fire station, Old Fire Station No. 4.

It’s led by WMed’s Community Health Interest Group and has a partnership with the Kalamazoo Gospel Ministries homeless shelter.

The clinic opened in August, said Dr. Cheryl Dickson, associate dean for Community Education and Engagement at WMed. The grand opening was Friday, March 14.

Dickson and Dr. Mark Schauer, a WMed associate professor, work with medical students to provide checkups and take medical histories of patients. The students are volunteering through WMed’s Community Health Interest Group and aren’t paid, Dickson said.

All of the services offered at the clinic are free.

In the past, WMed has conducted weekly health screenings at shelters across town, Dickson said. There, students and physicians can take blood pressure and do examinations. That will continue.

The new clinic will create a designated space where patients can come for more private screenings. Taking patients’ histories will also help provide more comprehensive care, Dickson said.

“We can go through and really look at all of their issues, all of their problems in more detail,” Dickson said. “(Then), we can help them understand their medications, treat what we need to treat while they’re safe and then connect them with navigation (resources).”

Inside the firehouse, there are two exam rooms and another room for small procedures like removing sutures. When the clinic launched, they’d see one person a day, Dickson said. Now they see about five people a day.

Homeless individuals face more barriers to accessing medical care than others, said Claire Kalina, a fourth-year WMed student.

“They don’t have to put so much effort in coming to the clinic and making an appointment months in advance when they don’t know what their tomorrow is going to look like,” Kalina said.

Many homeless individuals already have health insurance through the Affordable Care Act, Dickson said. But even with insurance patients still often have to pay some out-of-pocket costs at other providers.

There can also be a stigma against homeless individuals seeking medical care, Dickson said. Providers may make patients feel “embarrassed” or “less than,” so people wait until they need emergency services, Dickson said.

One time while providing screenings, Kalina assisted a woman whose home burned down. The woman and her partner weren’t able to find another place to stay and ended up living on the street.

“She started crying when I was providing care to her and was thanking me,” Kalina said. “It was the first time that she felt like she wasn’t untouchable or dirty by a health care provider.”

The clinic is two blocks from the Kalamazoo Gospel Mission, 448 N. Burdick St. and Ministry with Community, 500 N. Edwards St., Dickson said. If patients need medications, someone at the clinic can pick up the medications so the individual can get them.

“Coming to them and meeting them where they’re at, I think that makes a huge difference,” Dickson said.

Kalina said they see a lot of homeless individuals with diabetes and high blood pressure. Some patients will also have skin rashes and psychiatric conditions, Kalina said.

But when people need to find essentials like food, water, clothing and where to stay, accessing medical resources isn’t always a priority, Dickson said.

The clinic will be open the first and third Friday of every month from 1 to 4:30 p.m.

It may expand to open more frequently and expand services offered in the future, Dickson said.

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