Jeff Sewald.

“In all the many homeless encampments we visited throughout the U.S. and in foreign countries, not once did I ever feel threatened.”

– Jeff Sewald

“The concept of the ‘other’ always attracted me. Part of that is just an innate curiosity about places and people who are different.”

– Dr. Jim Withers

“In medical education, there are forces at work that tell us, the ‘other’ is dangerous; the ‘other’ doesn’t deserve the care that we would want. And that has caused some outrage in my heart.”

– Dr. Jim Withers

“Everyone has their own story and their own journey to the street. And although there are trends – poverty, mental illness, domestic- and/or child-abuse, and addictions – every individual is unique. I began to see myself, potentially, in each of the homeless people I met. It was a sacred privilege to be welcomed into their camps, not to solve their problems, but to connect with them as fellow humans.”

– Dr. Jim Withers

“I can’t emphasize enough that my work with people living on the streets came not so much from my sense that they needed me, but that I needed them. Basically, what I do is modeled on the house calls that I made with my dad. He’d go and sit with someone in their kitchen, and have a cup of coffee with them. To him, every patient was a person, first. And it wasn’t just a matter of getting more information; it was a matter of connecting with them. And from that platform, with a relationship and solidarity of purpose, people want to get well. They believe that they can because they believe they’re being heard, and that they matter.”

– Dr. Jim Withers

“My dad was a old-fashioned country doctor and, as a kid, I was able to make house calls with him. My mom was a nurse, who made home visits. And one of the more extraordinary things I experienced as a teenager was traveling as a family to do medical work in places such as Nicaragua, Guatemala and Saint Lucia. To me, that was a normal childhood. But I realize now that it was an incredible blessing to have parents who saw service as a natural part of who they were. They both came with a sense of idealism about improving the world and living out their beliefs.”

– Dr. Jim Withers

“Medical training had a significant impact on me, as it does to many students, be they medical, nursing, or otherwise. You come into this idealistic profession with a lot of dreams and values, and then you hit the wall. There is a lot of systems-type stuff that dehumanizes the people we’re supposed to be serving, and it can be pretty depressing because you come to see healthcare and healthcare training as a giant machine that serves its own purposes more than those of the people who are ill or suffering.”

– Dr. Jim Withers

“I find the kind of work that I’m doing particularly energizing because I’m not running away from reality. It’s easy to stay in your box, in your comfort zone. But to move toward reality, and to be ready for it, is a lot more exciting and interesting than trying to define reality for other people.”

– Dr. Jim Withers

“I see myself as part of the vanguard of people who are moving forward, out of their comfort zones and into a whole new medical arena. We must support all of the doctors, nurses and other healthcare practitioners who are inclined this way in order to enable them to move outside of the boundaries of established medicine.”

– Dr. Jim Withers

“I piloted this work in 1992, and developed a lot of loyalty amongst the people on the street. They called me “Doc Jim,” and I began to get referrals from this bridge to that bridge because, as much as they
hated the healthcare system, they loved me.”

– Dr. Jim Withers

“I learned from Dr. Withers that every interaction with a homeless person must begin by listening to their concerns and, sometimes, just simply hearing their story.”

– Jeff Sewald

“We all have a tendency to not look homeless people in the eye, which is sad, when you think about it. After all, the homeless are human beings, just like you and I, with human feelings. By averting eye
contact and looking away, we communicate to them that not only don’t they matter, they don’t exist.”

– Jeff Sewald