A new federally funded program aimed at reducing crime and homelessness is offering free services to Wichita's unhoused community.
Project HOPE aims to get service providers to collaborate and work together in the city's core area.
One of its initiatives was a free health clinic last month from several service providers at Second and St. Francis. Another clinic is scheduled for May 17.
"I'm really loving this clinic because it gives them the opportunity to reach out and help people," said Joseph Stroud, a nurse practitioner with Healthcore, a community health clinic near 21st and Grove.
"It's really nice for me to be able to give back and then hopefully show people that you can break that cycle of poverty and things like that."
Stroud was at the clinic with other medical and mental health providers for the day to serve as a one-stop shop for people experiencing homelessness.
Representatives like Brandy Niblett with the city of Wichita's Housing Department were also at the clinic to help get people connected to housing — if they're ready for that step.
"It takes a village. It does," Niblett said. "It's not just one program, one person."
The clinic in April was one of the first the city organized as part of the Project HOPE effort.
According to Healthcore CEO Teresa Lovelady, the initiative will continue to evolve with the needs of the community.
"It's kind of new for us, it's new for the city," Lovelady said. "This is kind of a prototype."
Throughout the morning, people trickled into the large mobile unit while other clinic workers visited homeless service providers to get those in need connected to health care.
One woman named Debbie said she was at the Lord's Diner when she heard about the clinic. She decided to visit the mobile unit and got her COVID vaccine, a blood pressure check and other services.
"It was like a regular doctor's office, kinda," she said.
Team members providing care that day said it's a way for them to work with the community and give back.
"It is really humbling as a provider to be able to provide these services to patients," nurse practitioner Christine Smith said.
Stroud said more health care providers for the unhoused community, like the ICT Street Team and Healthcore, are needed.
"No matter how many people are out, how many days we're out here, there's still a need," he said. "There's just no way that we… because the demand is just so great."
According to Lovelady, organizers want to bring in more providers to the next clinic to meet the various needs of the unhoused community.
"If we can go out into a community and meet someone where they are and make their life a little bit better, then that's our responsibility as an organization," she said.
For Lovelady, the initiative is also a way to provide hope.
"We all hope for a better life," she said. "We all hope for better things. When I think about Project HOPE, I think about that part of it.
"We want to have faith in our systems; that there are people out there that care about other people, right?"
