NSU receives $1.6 million federal grant to provide better care for homeless

Nova Southeastern University College of Osteopathic Medicine recently received a $1.6 million federal grant to develop an academic program for medical students to provide better care for the homeless by understanding their needs.

The 5-year grant from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services will allow NSU's medical school, the College of Osteopathic Medicine, to build a curriculum that helps improve students' attitudes toward the homeless, ensure patient safety, and minimize patient errors in caring for the homeless. The grant will also enable the college to send fourth-year medical students to homeless centers throughout Florida, where they can treat and evaluate homeless men, women, and children.

As one of the most vulnerable segments of society, the homeless often do not have access to health care or they are overlooked by health care providers. NSU hopes to use this grant to train more physicians, who will then have the knowledge and sensitivities to reach out and treat this forgotten group.

Once the curriculum is developed and implemented by NSU, it will be used by other medical schools throughout the country to plan, develop, carry out, and evaluate primary care health services for the homeless.

"The homeless deserve adequate medical care," said Cecilia Rokusek, Ed.D., R.D., the medical school's executive director of education, planning and research, who is the grant's project advisor. "We want our students to be properly trained to deliver compassionate care to a medically underserved group both in the cities and rural areas. The homeless face enormous challenges everyday. We want to make access to quality health care a little less challenging."