“healing the homeless”-a review of ROUGH SLEEPERS

Pulitzer Prize-winning author Tracy Kidder takes us on a virtual ride through the streets of Boston to introduce us to the homeless “rough sleepers” and the people who care for their medical needs. If you care or are simply curious about the homeless people on the streets of your community, you should read this book.

Rough Sleepers:

Dr. Jim O’Connell’s urgent mission to bring healing to homeless people 

by Tracy Kidder

The Boston Health Care for the Homeless Program has served thousands of people for over 30 years. Tracy Kidder rode on the program’s outreach van with the director Dr. Jim O’Connell, whose one-year commitment turned into a 30-year mission. Caring for the “rough sleepers”-those who sleep on the sidewalks, doorsteps, and parks of Boston’s streets- wasn’t what he envisioned when he finished his medical residency in 1985.

For five years the author rode along the late-night rounds with the Harvard-educated physician. He learned what the program does and why it matters. Homeless people are often alcoholic, drug addicted, ex-cons, mentally ill, or suffering from serious chronic illnesses. Living on the streets makes it impossible to get the kind of consistent medical care they need.

The homeless tend to distrust outsiders, especially the medical and mental health community. But through patience and persistence, Dr. Jim and the other staff won their trust by treating them as human beings with complicated stories that brought them to the streets and keeps them there.

The narrative reads like a novel as Mr. Kidder tells the backstories of these people shunned and ignored by society, but whom the doctors, nurses, counselors, and therapists treat with dignity and respect. He describes their frustration when the rough sleepers shun the care they offer or relapse after seeking care, as well as the lack of financial support from the political powers.

One rough sleeper, Tony, forms a special bond with Dr. Jim and we learn the most about him. Mr. Kidder relates his story bit by bit to a shocking climax when we learn what drove him to the streets and kept him there long-term.

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Rough Sleepers is not an easy book to read but is equally hard not to read. I found myself cheering for the staff when they get someone off the streets and into a small apartment but grieving when they lose one to disease, violence, or a drug overdose. I am inspired by the perseverance and persistence of Dr. O’Connell and his co-workers in caring for a population of patients for which there is often little positive feedback.

Content warning-this is a true story about people with rough lives. There is candid discussion of drug and alcohol use, medical conditions and treatments, and various types of sexual behaviors.

Thank you, NetGalley and Random House for sending this book for review consideration. All opinions are my own.

Jim O’Connell, M.D.

Dr. O’Connell is the President of the Boston Health Care for the Homeless Program and teaches and writes about care for the homeless. He wrote about his experiences caring for the homeless in, Stories From the Shadows: Reflections of a Street Doctor

Tracy Kidder wrote about another physician, Dr. Paul Farmer.

Mountains Beyond Mountains:

The Quest of Dr. Paul Farmer, a Man Who Would Cure the World 

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In medical school, Paul Farmer found his life’s calling: to cure infectious diseases and to bring the lifesaving tools of modern medicine to those who need them most.

Tracy Kidder’s account shows how one person can make a difference through a clear-eyed understanding of the interaction of politics, wealth, social systems, and disease.

Profound and powerful, Mountains Beyond Mountains takes us from Harvard to Haiti, Peru, Cuba, and Russia as Farmer changes people’s minds through his dedication to the philosophy that “the only real nation is humanity.”

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Mr. Kidder won the Pulitzer Prize in 1981 for

The Soul of A New Machine 

Tracy Kidder’s “riveting” (Washington Post) story of one company’s efforts to bring a new microcomputer to market won both the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award and has become essential reading for understanding the history of the American tech industry.

exploring the HEART of health

You can use the links to learn more about these books, the authors, and the physicians. Watch a video at the Boston program link to learn more about the care they provide. Some are affiliate links that may pay a commission to this blog.

This post’s cover photo is courtesy of Pexels and was shot by photographer Timur Weber.

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