Wearing a worn grey sweatshirt and ratty sneakers, Jay Tankananow chatted with fellow patients and the nurses milling around them in a quiet, nondescript health clinic about the hardships of being homeless in Boston.
“I grew up in a wealthy town, and spending a hundred dollars was nothing,” Tankananow said. “Now, going to McDonalds is a luxury.”
Like many other patients at the St. Francis Healtch Clinic, Tankananow said he traveled a long and winding path to his seat at the clinic. He was raised by wealthy parents, lived in a house in upscale Marblehead and held a job at a local television news outlet until a drug addiction landed him on the street.
Saint Francis, the clinic Tankananow calls his “safe haven” from life on the street, is one branch of more than 70 such clinics operated by Boston Health Care for the Homeless, a city program established in 1985 to accommodate the specific needs of Boston’s transient population, said spokeswoman Vicki Ritterbrand.
That homeless population has grown from 5,819 to 6,365 in the past year, according to the 2005-06 Homeless Census – a change that has pressured the program to expand to new locations, including one currently being built on the corner of Massachusetts Avenue and Albany Street, Ritterbrand said.
The clinic’s many accommodations make it one of the city’s “best-kept secrets,” she added, though its low profile means money is tight at times.
Under the direction of site manager Cecilia Ibeabuchi, St. Francis has expanded to meet the growing number of patients and has added a special room to address the foot problems many homeless people develop through walking on the street all day.
In her six years working at St. Francis, Ibeabuchi said she has treated homeless people from many different backgrounds.
“I’ve seen doctors, social workers [and] teachers,” she said. “Just because someone is homeless, [it] doesn’t mean you can underestimate them. They are human beings, and you have to treat them the way you would want to be treated.”
Like Ibeabuchi, many doctors and nurses at St. Francis say they are reluctant to take vacations because they know their patients will miss them.
Nurse practitioner Stacy Kirkpatrick, who has worked at St. Francis for seven years, said doctors and nurses provide emotional and medical support.
“It’s great to watch people’s self-esteem go up [through attention],” Kirkpatrick said.
The staff in the various clinics usually stay for a long time, which is a major draw to patients, because when everyone knows each other by name, their surroundings feel more like home, Tankananow said.
“Some people here don’t have any family except for these providers,” he said.
“A hospital isn’t as user-friendly,” Tankananow continued. “Here, people know you personally. When I was in the hospital, I called Cecilia to let her know I was okay, because I knew she would worry about me.”