Homeless Health Initiative

The Homeless Health Initiative (HHI) is a volunteer outreach program coordinated by The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia's Community Education Department. Volunteers of the HHI provide medical and dental services to children in area shelters and assist families in accessing important health care services including health insurance, primary care and specialty care.

Our history

HHI started in 1988 when a group of Children's Hospital residents recognized the need to improve health care access for homeless children. The residents began providing acute medical care at emergency shelters in West Philadelphia. Today, HHI provides the following services to children in shelters and their families:

Medical and dental care
Hearing and vision screenings
Health and parenting workshops
Interactive parent-child development activities

Recognition

HHI has been named a "Best Practices Model" by the Philadelphia Blueprint to End Homelessness, People's Emergency Center and the Mayor's Task Force on Homeless Services. In the spring of 2005, HHI was presented at the Third International Symposium on Child Health and Development in Tokyo, Japan, as a way of inspiring such efforts and initiatives to be undertaken in Japanese hospitals.

In the summer of 2005, Mayor Bernard Kincaid of Birmingham, AL, came to Philadelphia to learn first hand from the HHI team about the health services we provide to children in Philadelphia shelters. The HHI team was honored by the People's Emergency Center (PEC) for outstanding volunteer leadership and service to the children and families at PEC.

HHI was honored with a Philadelphia City Council Resolution Award in 2007, and with the American Red Cross Cornerstone Award in 2008.

HHI in the spotlight

HHI leadership will present at the 2009 National Healthcare for the Homeless Conference and Policy Symposium in Washington, D.C. June 24-27, 2009. Over the years the HHI leadership team has partnered with many motivated and energetic professionals (representing over a dozen disciplines), shelter staff, city government officials and the community at large to support the physical and emotional health of children in shelters. The goal of the presentation, "Healthcare and Hope for Children in Shelters: Building Professional and Community Partnerships," is to share the HHI program, process, and the lessons learned as HHI developed into an award winning, "Best Practices Model."

Learn more

Please take a moment to explore our Web site. You can:

If you are a HHI volunteer, see our Volunteers section for schedules, updates and our volunteer spotlight.