Health center to provide care for city's homeless

By Javacia N. Harris
Seattle Times staff reporter

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"I'm from the old school," Colvin said, explaining that she, like many of her peers, thought being diabetic meant she'd soon lose a limb to amputation.

But Colvin's story hasn't turned out that way. She's been able to get proper care for her diabetes through Pike Market Health Clinic, which serves the uninsured. Colvin, 51, believes many more homeless women will soon receive the care they need thanks to a new health center set to open in downtown Seattle this fall.

The Seattle-King County Health Care for the Homeless Network has received a nearly $248,000 federal grant to create a health center for homeless adults in Belltown. The center will be at the YWCA Opportunity Place, a 105,000-square-foot, seven-story building that houses employment services, 145 units of affordable housing and Angeline's Center for Homeless Women.

Though the center will be open to all homeless adults, not just women, the homeless network chose Opportunity Place because of its proximity to Angeline's, said Janna Wilson, program manager for the homeless network.

Angeline's Center for Homeless Women serves about 200 women a day, said Liz Mills, director of Opportunity Place. Day after day, women come in suffering from diabetes, obesity and many other illnesses that are compounded by homelessness, she said.

"If you look around, you'll see a lot of women in very bad physical condition," Mills said. And all the center can offer these women now, she said, is one nurse just four days a week.

Soon, however, only a few steps from the nurse's office at Angeline's, another door will open to the 1,100-square-foot health center offering everything from treatment of influenza and the common cold to care for heart and respiratory problems.

The center will operate through a partnership between the homeless network and Harborview Medical Center and its Pioneer Square Clinic, which also serves the homeless.

Using money from the grant, the homeless network will pay Harborview to hire a full-time nurse and nurse practitioner, and a part-time doctor and psychiatrist, said Dr. Nancy Sugg, medical director of Harborview's Pioneer Square Clinic.

The grant is one of 15 recent national awards by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. It will provide the network with nearly $290,000 annually for three years, after which the network can apply for continued support, Wilson said.
 
Sugg thinks many homeless women go without health care not only because of a lack of access but also out of fear.

"Many homeless women have a history of abuse," she said, adding that rape is also common among homeless women who are mentally ill.

"I mean, really, no woman likes getting a Pap smear," Sugg said. But this apprehension would only be amplified by the memory of past abuse or by mental illness, she said.

The center will offer pelvic and breast exams, she said, and employ doctors and nurses who can build relationships with the women to make them feel comfortable enough for such treatment.

Pat Washington, 43, used the services at Angeline's and Opportunity Place's Work Source center to find a job and start rebuilding her life. She said she was resourceful enough to seek out the health care she needed from various clinics. But many homeless women, Washington said, are afraid to get help from places outside of Angeline's. That's why she thinks having a wellness center at Opportunity Place could save lives.

"I hear people talking on the bus, and when you say Angeline's, women know that place," Washington said. "Women feel safe here."

For Colvin, who also turned to Angeline's for help, the story keeps getting better. Last week, she moved into transitional housing provided by the Compass Cascade Women's Center. She continues to rave about Angeline's and said the new wellness center will make a good thing even better. Now, she said, Angeline's will not only be a safe place but a healing place.

Javacia Harris: 206-464-2449 or jharris@seattletimes.com