Street Medicine Brings Health Care To Atlanta’s Homeless

Licensed practical nurse Stephanie Dotson measures the blood pressure of Kent Beasley outside Central Presbyterian Church in downtown Atlanta on Sept. 9. Dotson is a member of the Mercy Care Street Medicine team, which works to provide medical and behavioral health care to the city’s homeless population.

Bita Honarvar / For WABE

It’s late afternoon, and a large van sits idling in the hot sun on a street corner in southwest Atlanta near where Interstate-20 crosses over Whitehall Street.

Herman Ware sits surrounded by medical supplies at a wobbly table in the vehicle. He’s taking a break from the mid-September heat, as nurse Stephanie Dotson prepares to give him a flu shot.

“Well it might sting, yeah, I figured that,” Ware says in anticipation.