photo by: LMH Health

LMH Health, 325 Maine St., is pictured in May 2021.

A group of a dozen Douglas County agencies, including LMH Health and Lawrence-Douglas County Public Health, have been working together to provide health care for members of the homeless population, and they’re planning to continue developing long-term strategies to that end.

In a news release Monday, LMH Health announced the first action in the partnership: a free clinic to provide health care services to unhoused residents, which was hosted midway through last month at the health department. Sheryle D’Amico, LMH Health’s senior vice president for strategic integration, said in the release that the group of community partners plans to continue to meet to look at long-term ways to provide health care for unhoused residents.

According to the release, Assistant Douglas County Administrator Jill Jolicoeur has coordinated with a number of local agencies over the past year to find a way to address primary care and preventive care for unhoused residents. Along with LMH Health and the health department, those agencies included Artists Helping the Homeless, Bert Nash Community Mental Health Center, the City of Lawrence, DCCCA, Douglas County, Heartland Community Health Center, Heartland RADAC, the Kansas Statewide Homeless Coalition, the Jax Project and the University of Kansas.

“We heard that there are pronounced, urgent needs that weren’t in our immediate plan, and one area drawn out was healthcare and the inability to access medical care,” Jolicoeur said in the release. “It was important to address that right away to build trust, so we took that conversation back to the stakeholders providing those services and seeing the unhoused on a regular basis.”

Last month’s clinic was a product of work from the City of Lawrence and Douglas County to develop a strategic plan to address housing and homelessness. Those agencies set a goal of providing health assessments and medication for minor medical issues at no cost for up to 60 unhoused residents, but turnout was lower than expected and volunteers provided care to fewer than 10 people. But the release notes that the people who were served at the clinic have completed follow-up visits and coordinated further care with service providers like Heartland Community Health Center.