Atrium Health initiative takes treatment to the streets

ATRIUM HEALTH

Dr. Cortlyn Brown (second from left), director of Atrium Health's Care Everywhere Street Medicine Project with colleagues. The initiative treats unsheltered homeless people across the region.

An Atrium Health initiative is taking medical treatment into Charlotte’s streets.

The Care Everywhere Street Medicine Project is designed to treat unsheltered homeless people across the region, who often lack access to traditional healthcare due to barriers like a lack of insurance or transportation. The initiative’s goal is to improve access to preventative care before urgent treatment is required.

According to Mecklenburg County Community Support Services’ 2025 State of Housing Instability and Homelessness Report, found that 77% of low-cost housing available in 2015 was wiped out by 2024 as redevelopment and gentrification spread across the region. Black people, who make up 29% of the county’s population, account for 74% of the homeless population. The most recent Point-In-Time census found 384 unsheltered people on a single night in Mecklenburg.

The study combined local, regional and national data on homelessness, housing stock and affordability. 

Care Everywhere, which includes scheduled outreach to sites where the unsheltered are encamped, is staffed by doctors from Carolinas Medical Center’s Department of Emergency Medicine. They provide services ranging from dispensing medications for chronic conditions to point-of-care testing and wound care. 

“This program is about showing up, consistently, in the places where people already are,” Dr. Cortlyn Brown, director of the street medicine initiative and an associate professor of emergency medicine at Carolinas Medical Center said in a statement. “By removing common barriers and being a reliable presence, we are able to connect with people who might otherwise remain disconnected from the health care system.”

Atrium Health also collaborates with Roof Above to link patients with social services resources and long-term support to build trust and consistent care over time. In addition to focusing on acute and chronic medical needs and supporting long-term health outcomes, the program is also a training platform for clinicians and trainees. 

“At its core, this work is about dignity,” Brown said. “Every person deserves access to care and to be treated with respect, and that does not change based on where someone sleeps at night. This program lets us deliver on that commitment in a way that actually reaches people.” 

On the Net: 

atriumhealth.org/community/everywhere-street-medicine-project

Comments