Decent Healthcare for the Homeless - Article Example

House of Hope Decent healthcare for the Homeless Who We Are House of Hope is a non-profit organisation that is dedicated to helping the most vulnerable. During the last twenty years, the organisation has undertaken the most difficult task of providing assistance to the underserved. However, House of Hope is more than just a non-profit organisation: it is a home with a complete family of more than 100 volunteers and paid workers who are dedicated to helping the homeless receive decent health care, rebuild their lives and achieve their potential. With the various services that we offer, including health care and counselling, House of Hope touches the lives of more than one thousand Australians each year within Western Australia. Since its inception, House of Hope has supported the country’s most helpless, homeless families and individuals. Our aim is not only to help physically, but also to touch the body, mind, and hearts, and ultimately the spirits of those who depend on our services, while incorporating highly effective services and programs in our deep compassion. We have more than 100 volunteers across the state who assist in delivering these life-changing services. The name House of Hope was picked during the formative stage of the organisation. It signifies that we are a family committed to giving hope in a setting that resembles that of a home. Hence, our objective is to ensure that no individual we serve lacks decent healthcare services at any given time and that they acquire the mental and spiritual motivation to make the best out of their lives. Since it started, House of Hope has provided medicine, food, and counselling to those who need them and volunteering has been core to the success of the organisation. How to Reach Us: Contact Info +61041234567 What the Organisation Stands For The homeless people come from different backgrounds, and their reasons for lacking housing are varied as well. Anyone can become homeless depending on the circumstances. Many people think that only drug addicts and the mentally disabled people who have no families are homeless. However, that is not true because some people become homeless because they lost their jobs, family, house or car, lack or employment, divorce, or even death of a family member (Government of Western Australian, 2010). House of Hope believes that everyone has the right to quality healthcare regardless of his or her status. On average, the organisation provides health care services to over 1000 people who cannot access ordinary services because of their homeless status. The organisation aims to have a network of clinics across the state run by devoted volunteer clinicians who are passionate about making health services accessible to marginalised and homeless people. House of Hope believes in establishing a respite centre that is dedicated to addressing the health needs of homeless people when they do not need the full, costly services of a hospital, yet they are too weak to live on the streets. House of Hope also believes in having a collaborative education and research unit focused on escalating the international knowledge base of interventions that are effective in improving the health of homeless people while at the same time providing revolutionary professional development on social interventions and evidence-based health to help homeless people. The organisation also believes that the government need to be committed to providing sustainable financial assistance for homeless people’s health services. Who We Help According to the 2011 census, Australia had 105,237 people experiencing homelessness. This equates to about 0.5% of the population and includes children, families, adults, and entire families. This means that at least one in every 200 Australians is homeless, an increase from 45:10,000 to 49:10,000 or 17% between 2006 and 2010 (Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2012). This population comprise of those living on the streets, transitional housing, shelters, or even on other people’s couches. In the streets, they could be living in abandoned cars or buildings, on benches, under bridges, and in tents (Flatau, Thielking, MacKenzie, & Steen, 2015). Some do not know where their next meal will come from or where they will sleep at night. While some are unemployed, some are employed but cannot afford housing, some are immigrants, and some are victims of bad luck or loss (Government of Western Australian, 2010). This group of people get sick but cannot get assistance because they are the poorest in the society and cannot afford life’s simplest tasks. For some reasons, such as government policies, these individuals lack access to opportunities that can help them get affordable housing and medical care. The Needs We Address In Our Target Population Physical Health Needs Medical Care: our team of professional doctors, nurses, and healthcare assistants offer primary care to homeless children, youth, adults, and families. Convalescent Care: House of Hope has an emergency shelter in downtown Perth where medical providers and social workers provide a medical respite program for the homeless, where individuals can recuperate once they have been discharged from hospital after undergoing surgery or suffering acute illness. Dental Care: we also have a dental outlet exclusively for homeless people. Here, our dentists, dental assistants, and dental hygienists offer preventive dental care to children and adults experiencing homelessness. We also provide operative care such as bridges, and dentures to adults. Behavioural Health Needs Psychiatric Care: at House of Hope, we offer mental health care based on one-on-one therapy with a professional mental health therapist. In case a therapist believes that psychiatric medication is necessary or the individual is interested, the psychiatric then refers the patient to one of our psychiatrists to be assessed and to get the required treatment. House of Hope offers both individual and group therapy through a team of addiction counsellors and behavioural health therapists who work with the patients to improve and manage the symptoms, treat disorders associated with drug abuse, help them deal with the trauma of homelessness, and assist those who are recovering in maintaining sobriety. How We Help the Target Population House of Hope understands that the homeless are severely underprivileged and lack access to basic health services. At the same time, we realise that both mental and physical health interventions are critical to this critically underserviced population. House of Hope provides a multi-disciplinary comprehensive program that ensures that the homeless under its watch have access to primary health care, emergency care, substance abuse treatment, and outreach services for the severely marginalised homeless populations. We work in collaboration with hospitals for in-patient referral care services. Our Funding Source(s) House of Hope relies heavily on funding from the local and national governments as well as the private sector. We also work with government agencies such as Homelessness Australia, Department of Social Services, and the Department of Child Protection, to provide essential healthcare services. Homelessness and the health needs of those in such situations are services that the government has identified and allocated funding. Hence, the government is often ready to help organisations that come in to help. However, we also seek other funding sources to augment what we get from the government because it is never enough to fund the services we provide. As such, we also rely heavily on individual donations. Our website has a page where those who share our passion and philosophy or simply feel the need to assist the homeless can contribute whatever financial resources they have. There are normally individual who are passionate about helping the homeless receive quality health care. They find the issues we address integral to their daily lives, and they realise with a collective effort, we can achieve something momentous. We also rely on grants from both individuals and organisations. Our members are also our main donors because they find the issue of universal healthcare deeply personal to them. The Government Regulations We Adhere To In our effort to ensure that the homeless receive quality healthcare services, we endeavour to adhere to the best practice and standards of practice laid out by the department of health and other relevant government agencies. Hence, Department of Human Services Standards forms the main basis of our practice. To ensure that those we serve are treated decently while under our care, our team of professionals observe to the guidelines stipulated in the Personal relationships sexuality and sexual health policy, which ensures that individuals are not discriminated based on their sexuality or sexual preferences. We also observe the HLTAP301A - Recognise healthy body systems in health care context guidelines that are meant to ensure that all healthcare services we provide aim at improving the health of our clients regardless of their living status. Because House of Hope deals with people who live on the streets, we aim at ensuring that all our staff follow the guidelines of the Department of Health and Human Services Environment Policy 2016. This ensures that medical waste and the by-products of our services are disposed appropriately to either minimise or eliminate their environmental impact. References Read More