Our work to help homeless people back into stable and durable accommodation takes place in several stages. Identification is the first of these stages.
During this stage, we keep our eyes open and look to identify urgent needs. In this way, we can determine which are the most vulnerable people and prioritise them straight into the system as soon as a place becomes available.
We measure vulnerability on the basis of several criteria: a person who lives on the streets of Brussels or Liège; has little or no support network (or a network that is discouraged); presents risks in terms of their health (chronic illness, age, etc.); has a worrying state of personal hygiene (measured objectively, using a scale of need created by us in 2009).
We keep track of the most vulnerable people in the Brussels-Capital region and in Liège. This allows us to build up a list of priority patients, always behaving ethically and retaining respect for their privacy.
We do this by drawing up a list of names and collecting information about each homeless person. This allows us to assess the degree of vulnerability of each of them and, as a result, to target our actions.
Establishing this list means Street nurses works efficiently. By knowing our target group as well as possible, we can best help support and find care and accommodation adapted to each of them, with the aim of putting an end to homelessness.
© P-Y Jortay - Street Nurses 2020