By: Julie Loomis

Word on the Street Issue 46, August 2024

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This is continuing with my friend Nicky and Kendall. Actually this is more than the few I know,  hundreds of homeless get ill or injured every year in Boise. A downtown hospital has been difficult with pain treatment. This year, four of my friends have received the homeless treatment.

What is the homeless treatment? First they rush through diagnosis, run just exact minimum care. If you have a broken face, run into by a car, broken arm or throwing up for days?

Send them home after giving them some Tylenol. Now, we’re asking for a 90 day supply of pain medicine. Instead, we’re asking for a pain shot to help us rest when they get home and a few days supply till they can see their regular doctor. A hospital staff told one of my friends that they aren’t allowed to give homeless people anything stronger.

Now I choose another hospital when my back pain was too much. They knew I was homeless and they took their time and gave me a shot and some medication for the inflammation and pain.  So it’s not impossible to get better care. I have had a few homeless that say the same thing happened to them at the hospital I go to.  

I am not sure why downtown hospitals would have a policy like that. I know they see the majority of homeless. We are as versatile as any population. We have addicts and that is usually notated on their chart. Please see us as individuals, not slap a label on all of us. I hope when I am desperate enough to show up at a hospital that I am treated with respect and dignity. We are people first, not just homeless.