In Rough Sleepers, Tracy Kidder follows the career of Dr. Jim O’Connell who devoted his life to homeless people who frequently slept on the street. Dr. Jim’s career began with an early choice as he neared the end of his residency and was challenged by the chief of medicine to postpone an impressive fellowship to spend a year creating a health organization for homeless citizens. The year turned into a life’s work.
The author spent five years following Dr. Jim, his colleagues, and his patients through the ups and downs of life on the street and the effects on the health of these people. The complexities of serving this population seemed to multiply. Quality time with the patient was imperative since these patients were suspicious of a doctor in a hurry. A saying the medical personnel learned to follow was, “You just have to be there and be present and, if need be, stand with them in the darkness.”
Often the medical personnel defined their tasks as Sisyphean since they worked to get a patient off of substance abuse or over a habitual health issue only to have them revert to original destructive habits and start over again. Kidder pictured a community inhabited by caregivers and patients who become supportive of each other as they slip and slide in and out of wellness and safety. The reader gets to know these people as portrayed by the author and keeps alive a hope for each of them.
This very readable book is a mix of humor, red tape, warm socks, medicine, addictions, and friendship. It puts a human face on those who live by turns under the bridge, in makeshift tents, or in low-rent housing,