Street Side Medics, a GP-led mobile medical service not-for-profit dedicated to people experiencing homelessness to launch in Victoria this September.
The charity’s first move into a state outside of New South Wales since its inception in August 2020, Street Side Medics provides free primary healthcare to vulnerable Australians via fully equipped and customised mobile medical units which on a weekly basis visit areas with demographically high concentrations of homelessness.
The brainchild of 2022 Young Australian of the Year, Dr Daniel Nour, Street Side Medics has supported thousands of vulnerable Australians to date.
The unique service – which has a no-turn-away policy and currently treats a rapidly growing average of 126 patients per week in New South Wales alone – operates in partnership with existing food services, shelters and other homelessness-focussed service providers to alleviate the burdens faced by homeless communities in accessing primary healthcare.
High-profile political and community leaders will join Street Side Medics Founder Dr Daniel Nour and the wider Street Side Medics team of volunteers, supporters, board members and others at Mercedes-Benz Melbourne to mark Street Side Medics’ official launch into Victoria on Wednesday 4 September 2024 from 530pm.
LSH Auto Australia is a crucial partner of Street Side Medics, providing specially equipped Mercedes-Benz vans for charity use. Fittingly, the media launch event on 4 September will be held at Mercedes-Benz Melbourne at 135 Kings Way, South Melbourne. The event will include addresses by Dr Daniel Nour and notable guests, interview opportunities and an up-close look at the Street Side Medics mobile clinic facilities.
The following night, Thursday 5 September – which coincidently is also the United Nations’ International Day of Charity – will see the first Victorian Street Side Medics weekly clinic from 5.30 pm held at 69 Bourke Street, Melbourne – outside of The Salvation Army’s ‘Melbourne Project 614’ site.
Street Side Medics will operate from this location every Thursday night from 5:30 pm – 7:30 pm, alongside The Salvation Army’s evening Twilight Café service, which serves 500 free meals daily to its patrons and has an established connection with many experiencing homelessness within the Melbourne CBD.
At the last Australian Census, 30,660 Victorians were experiencing some form of homelessness[i].
Research noted by Street Side Medics further reveals that Melbourne’s inner-city in particular has a high number of people who are rough sleeping and living in improvised dwellings; and bulk-billing rates have recently plummeted across Victoria, where inner Melbourne has the state’s fewest bulk billing clinics[ii].
Dr Daniel Nour highlighted that the recent appointment of The Hon. Clare O’Neil as Minister for Homelessness presents an opportunity to reinvigorate Australia’s approach to tackling homelessness – which he describes as now in a crisis state.
Dr Nour is calling on the establishment of a homelessness commissioner and specialised homelessness coordinators within major tertiary hospitals.