Central Coast News

HoTS is a Mobile Health Clinic that provides health checks and outreach to people experiencing homelessness on the Central Coast. Central Coast Primary Care’s CEO, Michelle Bradbury says “The timing of the COVID-19 Pandemic within a week of launching HoTS may have been a setback if it weren’t for the dedication of our team who were committed to helping vulnerable people in our community”.

Launched in March 2020, Health on The Streets (HoTS) combines homeless outreach with health checks and takes these services out to people experiencing homelessness where they are on the Central Coast. Central Coast Primary Care has a history of local homeless outreach and understands the challenges faced by people experiencing homelessness.

Working collaboratively with Uniting and The Department of Housing, the first six weeks of the program has seen the HoTS team help ten people who had been sleeping rough on the Central Coast into temporary housing. Another person has been able to secure permanent housing through the help from the HoTS team. Central Coast Primary Care CEO, Michelle Bradbury says “We are proud of that fact that in the first month of the program our team have been able to help eleven people find accommodation. That is eleven people who have taken the first step to achieving their goals.”

As well as supporting the homeless with clinical care including health assessments and primary care services, the HoTS Outreach team works to connect the people they encounter with other local support services. This function has proved to be most important at this time when the impact of COVID-19 has led to a decrease in supports and services available in the community.

“We receive referrals from the community that let us know when someone might be in need of our help. We recently received a referral from local MP David Mehan about someone who was sleeping rough in The Entrance. Our outreach team was able to assist that person and link them in with some temporary accommodation. That was a great outcome,” Bradbury says.

When Mr Mehan learned of the successful outcome, he provided the following comment, “The only way to assist those who are homeless and sleeping rough is with outreach services who can visit the homeless person and provide face to face help. Health on The Streets has proven that homeless outreach works. My office has contacted the service on several occasions and the results each time have been great.”

The HoTS team are taking reasonable precautions during this time to ensure social distancing measures and are committed to the health and wellbeing of all people they encounter. They will continue to deliver their outreach work to ensure vulnerable people in our community are not left behind.