James J. O'Connell

Compelling and gentle at the same time. I am in awe of those who give up their lives to the care of others. Favorite quote: O’Connell remembers the rage he used to feel about homelessness and his sense that he should focus on eliminating it. “Then I started to realize, I’m only a doctor, and I can’t do that. Many folks who come and do this work want to fix homelessness, and when they can’t, they get disheartened. The ones who make it realize that our job as doctors is to ease suffering. Then it becomes about the stories. You realize, ‘These people have gotten under my skin, and I want to take care of them.’”… (mehr)

This brief collection of introductions to (and sadly, departures of) the "rough sleepers" of Boston is heartbreaking on many levels. O the humanity! Dr. O' Connell is well known as a local hero and as part of an amazing staff dedicated to easing the chronic pain of street people medically and emotionally. Reading it can only sharpen a commitment that should come from each of us to do what we can. I drive with pairs of socks and granola bars to give to anyone on a street corner who looks like they could use them. Time to do the same when I am a walker in the city. Hopefully, new initiatives for providing homes for all street people will not run up against greedy developers with insane rental prices.… (mehr)

First my bias: I have volunteered in shelters and food service on behalf of street people for more than twenty years, in the Washington, DC, Metro area and in Bellingham, WA. I am the side of the rough sleepers and others who live on our streets and in our wooded areas. These stories focus on medical histories, counting the toll of physical and mental illnesses suffered by the people we in the mainstream step around as we conduct our lives. O'Connell conveys the essential humanity of his patients, and the heroic dedication and medical skills of his colleagues, but especially the nurses.… (mehr)