Healthcare and Homelessness: A Conversation with Nurse Alex

‘Their homelessness doesn’t go away when they’re in hospital, you know? It doesn’t go away.’

For Te Aro Health nurse Alex, working with our whānau is exactly where she wants to be. With her own lived experience of homelessness and a previous job at The People’s Centre (which was based at our site, Kirva House) she is part of the furniture, in the best possible way.

Te Aro Health have been partnering with us for many years and currently provide outreach clinics at DCM four days a week. Like many roles in this sector Alex’s is a mixture of the joyful and the heart breaking. On one hand there’s the awesome kōrero, big laughs, and fulfilment that comes from working in our community. On the other, are the real struggles our whānau face and major health disparities experienced by this population.

While much has remained the same in her four years working for the team other things have changed and she reports seeing more older adults facing homelessness than she has seen in years past.

'We know [our whānau] grow and they get better but they don't do it by themselves on the streets with no support.'

Longer appointment times (30 minutes or more when needed) and a drop-in schedule are the first steps to get whānau through the door of the drop-in clinic at DCM. The next steps, and a huge part of Alex’s job, is building trust with whānau. Health and homelessness are closely tied together with ill health, especially mental ill health, often being a contributor to someone ending up on the streets. Linking people up to appropriate secondary health services - and advocating for their complex needs - is a critical step for many of our whānau.

Which brings us back to the question: what does Alex mean when she says someone’s homelessness doesn’t go away when they’re in hospital?

‘It doesn’t go away, WINZ appointments don’t go away, all the sort of life things that are stressors for them and they know they need to do to get their next buck.’

And she’s right, the unique challenges for whānau who experience homelessness need to be considered in our healthcare system and Te Aro Health Centre has been leading that charge for many years. A huge thank you to Alex and the team for all you do.