Talk:Boston Health Care for the Homeless Program

Request for help!

I have been putting off making this page FOREVER because the extent of the notable contributions of this agency are immense. If other folks could jump in and add that would be wonderful. Primarily, I'm missing a huge detail which is the incorporation of clinics in tons of shelters and hospitals. I just don't have the brain capacity to work on that any time soon. Thank you Elttaruuu (talk) 21:33, 18 April 2023 (UTC)

will need sections on their COVID-19 response, H1N1, Hepatitis, Tuberculosis, HIV and more! Elttaruuu (talk) 03:39, 20 April 2023 (UTC)

COI tag (July 2023)

almost entirely written by nearly WP:SPA. Graywalls (talk) 10:26, 12 July 2023 (UTC)

Hi! I write about Boston homelessness history because it’s important to me that it is not erased and I find it disconcerting how little of it is on Wikipedia to begin with, especially since so many leaders within it are long dead and so many programs are defunct. I would love other editors assistance in cleaning up, neutralizing, and contributing to this section of wiki, but I’m going to continue to build it out so that the history doesn’t evaporate with the programs and people. Elttaruuu (talk) 13:01, 12 July 2023 (UTC)

We live in one of the most innovative parts of the US in regards to this work but I imagine people on the ground are probably too tired out by the work they do to properly maintain historical records of it. Elttaruuu (talk) 13:02, 12 July 2023 (UTC)

@Elttaruuu:, What is your personal and professional connection with the organization/business, if any? Have you interacted with them at all with regard to Wikipedia contents? Graywalls (talk) 23:41, 12 July 2023 (UTC)

Hello! I don’t have a personal / professional connection (or I guess I would not classify my interest that way). I read Stories from the Shadows a couple years ago and found O’Connell’s commentary on the organization’s work to be really compelling. It seems they take a much less traditional approach to medicine and that saves a lot of people’s lives. I googled the org a bunch of times and was surprised that they didn’t have a Wikipedia page yet. So eventually I made one. A lot of stuff I knew about but some of it I didn’t such as the Suffolk Downs Backstretch clinic, which was really interesting to learn about as I was building the page because I feel like it assisted a lot of people who were not typically prioritized as homeless, which is migrants. That’s also why I think it’d be great to keep the bit about Haiti as well because they were still treating homeless people, just newly homeless Haitian people. I also think getting 40 doctors to drop everything and work unpaid in a natural disaster zone is kind of mind blowing. Anyways, I have not interacted with anyone from the org, they don’t know me and may not even know they’re on wikipedia. I’m actually pretty anti-development and PR for these orgs, I know those people help keep the lights on but also feels kind of scummy to be advertising to rich donors about the work you do. I just want to honor the history of the Boston homelessness network (which includes a lot of people and places outside BHCHP, many of whom I have not gotten to) so that as programs die, there’s an archive. Hopefully, BHCHP won’t die anytime soon (unless homelessness is eradicated and solved which I doubt) but it will evolve and I think that’s important to publish in the project. Also! If there’s anything published about this organization that has a more critical perspective, I definitely think it should be added. Even in the most radical spaces, medical professionals do harm. I just have not found any critical secondary sources yet. Let me know if you have any more questions. Elttaruuu (talk) 00:53, 13 July 2023 (UTC)

Is this organization related to Boston Medical Center? I noticed that an IP registered to Boston Medical Center has been editing on it. Graywalls (talk) 14:26, 22 December 2023 (UTC)