READING, Pa. – This extreme cold can be dangerous and even deadly, especially for people with nowhere warm to go.
That’s why teams from Reading Hospital were out in the cold, checking on some of the city’s most vulnerable residents through its “Street Medicine” program.
“Street Medicine is a program that provides free health care to people who are housing insecure,” said Christine Nepple, the clinical director of Street Medicine at Tower Health.
The team brings care directly to the streets — visiting shelters, street corners and outreach sites across Reading and offering medical services without appointments or insurance.
When temperatures drop, the work intensifies.
“What we did today was kind of go outside for about six hours,” Nepple said. “We hit the south side of town to places where we know people are living outside, let them know that weather is coming, and let them know the options for emergency shelters this weekend: places they can get warm, places they can get food.”
One of those outreach locations is the YMCA in Reading, where Street Medicine providers regularly connect with people who don’t always have a warm place to go.
Along with medical care, the team hands out essentials.
“Sleeping bags in the winter. We give cool weather sleeping bags in the summer. Tents, tarps, backpacks full of supplies,” Nepple said.
The need is growing.
“Over the last six months, the amount of patients that we have seen has exponentially increased,” she added.
Street Medicine says anyone interested in helping can donate supplies or volunteer to support the program.