Copyright Coeur d'Alene Press
Countless stories that warm and break the heart unfold through Heritage Health's Street Medicine program. Street Medicine's team members and professionals compassionately deploy medical and behavioral services to the unhoused and underserved, providing primary care, illness management, therapy, crisis intervention and case management. Outreach services connect patients to resources, transportation and a computer lab. Above all, this team offers kindness and comfort in what can be a cold and lonely world. "Every day, I am reminded what it is to be human and to be a part of humanity," Street Medicine Director Chris Green said Friday. "We are meant to connect and to support and to help one another, to lift each other up when we fall down." Green has worked with the unhoused population since 2010, spending five years with St. Vincent de Paul North Idaho. During this time, he and the St. Vincent de Paul team referred hundreds, if not thousands of individuals, to the Press Christmas for All program that would buy food and gift cards for low-income families. In 2019, Press Christmas for All partnered with Charity Reimagined. "Their vision was to shift from lots of small gifts to more meaningful and impactful awards for those who would otherwise be unable to afford a large purchase," Green said. As a longtime referring partner for Press Christmas for All, Green has seen firsthand how this paradigm shift has changed the community for the better. In 2021, he was working on the Heritage Health Assertive Community Treatment team, serving the community's most severe and persistent mental illness patients. "Many of these individuals live in group homes with a very low income," he said. "A major purchase like a specialized bike that could transform these individuals’ lives is far outside of their reach. So, I began working with Charity Reimagined/Christmas for All to transform the lives of our vulnerable neighbors." Through referring partners such as Heritage Health and Street Medicine, the funds given to the nonprofit Press Christmas for All each year are distributed to offer hope to those served. "The difference that they have made in the lives of so many is impossible to convey or understand," Green said. "They're not only helping with large awards, like repairing a vehicle for a single working mom so that she can keep her job and keep food on the table, or a disabled veteran to get into housing; they also provide food and gas cards, and they fund our free lifeline phone program. They have done so much to help so many. "With each person, it feels like a miracle," he said. He said the majority of those Street Medicine serves were born and raised in Coeur d'Alene. "Our unhoused neighbors are just that," Green said. "They are our neighbors." Charity Reimagined founder Maggie Lyons said Heritage Health's Street Medicine team is doing extraordinary work. "They’re not just treating wounds — they’re restoring dignity and rebuilding hope," she said. "And with support from Press Christmas for All, Chris and his team have critically needed resources that directly support their clients who are working hard to regain their lives through improved health, education, permanent housing and meaningful work." • • • This is the first in a series of stories about Press Christmas for All referring partners who work with underserved populations every day. They build relationships and target needs so every Christmas for All dollar donated elevates community members with compassion and dignity.
