Health screening for the homeless

The primary purpose of the project described in this paper is to detect actual or potential health problems in homeless persons and to help them gain entry into the public health care domain. A second purpose is to expose nursing students to a broader spectrum of patient needs than those encountered in traditional clinical settings. The community outreach program (COP) is based at a large southern university, where the nursing care center serves as executor of the project. The manuscript discusses funding, data collection, and future plans for the community outreach project.