Volunteer work at the Preble Street Food Pantry Oct 1st (4 hours) and 17th (4 hours) 8 hours total.

The clinical population for the Preble Street Food Pantry is the homeless population of Portland, Maine. This population would include adolescents, young adults, middle-aged adults, and the elderly. The primary focus of the food pantry is preparing food for breakfast, lunch, and dinner to give to the people and families in need in the greater Portland area.

There are many Social Determinants of Health that are relevant to the clinical population. Two concerns are economic stability and neighborhood and built environment. Both of these Social Determinants of Health are relevant for the clinical population because neither are stable with a homeless population. The people in need have no place to live or sleep so the neighborhood and build environments are very limited as well as their economic stability. I would advocate for these clients by helping them find homeless shelters or stable living. I would try to work with the area and clean it up to provide a safer outside environment. I would also help the clients apply for jobs to help stabilize their economic status.

Within the food pantry, everyone is working together to prepare food for the clients. One way that incorporating interprofessional collaboration could create positive outcomes for the clients is by interprofessional teamwork and team-based care (IPE Competency 4). These positive outcomes for the clients could be achieved by having a nurse or provider help give out food in the community and provide care to clients that are in health care needs. One of the most problematic issues within the homeless population is not being able to receive health care. The clients could receive health care by having health care providers tag-along with the distribution of food.