In this episode of the L3 Leadership podcast, you'll hear a talk given by Dr. Jim Withers, Founder of Operation Safety Net, otherwise known as the homeless doctor.

To see the notes and ways to connect with Dr. Withers and Operation Safety Net, go to the show notes at L3Leadership.org/episode152

Dr. Jim’s Bio:

In 1992, Dr. Jim Withers set out single-handedly to deliver care to street people in Pittsburgh. He started by doing his homework – clocking hours in the library, reading how to best gain entry to the world of the homeless – before suiting up one night in tattered clothes. “I was rubbing dirt in my hair,” he says. “My kids thought I was crazy.”

But street folks embraced him, Withers says, and he them. “I found great professors of medicine – and life – in alleyways and abandoned buildings, on riverbanks and under bridges.”

His initial project gained patients, volunteer clinicians and students to the extent that, in 1993, Withers officially launched Operation Safety Net under the auspices of not-for-profit Mercy Hospital, which kicked in $50,000 to fund the start-up. Operation Safety Net today offers round-the-clock availability of paramedics, primary care physicians, registered nurses, podiatrists, dentists and the formerly homeless, as well as medical students and residents serving clerkships.

Connect with Jim Withers

Operation Safety Net: http://www.pmhs.org/operation-safety-net/

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