Many homeless people face barriers when trying to access health services. This means that they are more likely to suffer from poor health which in time costs them more.

The issue

Often health services are not set up to respond to the needs of homeless people.

For example, many mental health services will not treat people until they have sorted out their drug and or alcohol problem. Homeless people can often be trapped in a vicious circle of dependency.

They try to alleviate the symptoms of their mental health problems through the consumption of drugs and alcohol which means that their mental health problems go untreated.

Although many homeless people are registered with healthcare services and many will not be using them.

This could be because they have moved away from the area where they are registered previously.

Or because they have had a bad experience of using health care services either through treatment or how they were discharged.

A substantial number of homeless people use hospitals and emergency departments for treatment instead of going to see a personal doctor.

When people are discharged following a hospital admission, many will have nowhere stable to back to.

With no support, they return to rough sleeping or sofa surfing which won’t aid their recovery.

The Solution

You are a solution; we include medical facilities within many of our services.

For example doctors, dentists, optometrists, and podiatrists volunteer at our Crisis at Lovehelp centers to run clinics.

In our Lovehelp centers in Belgium, Africa, and around the world we have optician and dental services.

Our new service in Belgium has a medical room for our members to be seen by a specialist homeless health team.

To improve access to health services, LifeMattersFoundation has developed a homeless health advocacy program which offers one-to-one support for people experiencing homelessness to make and attend health appointments.

The use of advocates reduces the use of expensive emergency which saves more money for the poor homeless.

Today, volunteers play an essential role in the work of LifeMattersFoundation.

Together you can help make a lasting change today because there is a job for everyone!