The much-lauded Albuquerque Community Safety department works “hand-in-hand” with a new team from the University of New Mexico’s Center for Inclusive Health to provide medical support to the city’s unhoused population, Alexa Skonieski reports for KRQE, the local Fox affiliate. For example, Albuquerque Community Safety identifies an encampment where “there are people there who may need medical attention” and then the University of New Mexico’s Center For Inclusive Health team “tries to get out there within 24 hours” with “services that range from general checkups and wound care to pregnancy screenings and treatment for common infections.” Calling in a specialized medical team to provide healthcare makes a big difference for two reasons: First, as a physician who works with the CIH team explains, people who are unhoused often will not leave their belongings in order to obtain in-office medical care, because “going to an office visit for some people could be the difference between having everything stolen from them or getting health care.” Moreover, as the ACS directly told KRQE, “We see [first] responders who have that compassion fatigue, and so being able to help people in that moment, with a doctor, is so important.”
