A short time ago we looked up one of our street patients, a man who does not realize how seriously ill he is. On his back he had an enormous growth.

His shirt stuck to his skin and to his oozing wound.

We gave him a T-shirt to freshen up a bit. But when he took off his shirt it stuck to his skin making the wound even worse.

Normally, Street Nurses does not provide care on the street. It’s stigmatizing; it’s just not done with people passing by.

© P-Y Jortay

But we had no choice. He refused to come to an appropriate care center, and it was particularly hot.

In addition, he suffers from various infectious diseases and any complication increases the risk of death, his life expectation being already very limited.

So, we decided to administer the care on the street in the full public view.

Not to mention the fact that he had been drinking.

The situation was anything but agreeable - but in the end we were happy we could look after him and send him on his way with a fresh bandage and a clean T-shirt.

Finally, what mattered most was that, together, we could do something about his health and keep his problem under control.

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(*) We make every effort to respect the privacy of our patients and our professional secrecy. Nevertheless, we want to bear witness to how they have to survive and how we work together to reintegrate them. Therefore, the names of places and people are deliberately omitted or changed and real-life situations are placed in another context.