Reflections from Dr. Ellert's talk: "Circle the City Resources and Weathering"

Dr. William Ellert joined SMC members on October 13, 2025 to share his experiences leading Circle the City and the resources available to the community through this organization.

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"It was great to hear from Dr. Ellert. Being from Arizona, I have always heard about Circle the City but I never really understood what they do for our communities. For one, I had no idea that they do mobile street runs. It was great watching that video because you could truly feel the rapport that those healthcare workers have built with the population they serve. Hearing the unhoused talk about how much they appreciate the healthcare workers caring for them truly demonstrates this relationship. Also, I didn’t realize that the average age of the unhoused population was increasing. It saddened me to know how these individuals who had never been homeless before now found themselves on the streets at an age where they should only be worrying about their retirement or the next time they would spend with their grandkids. Hearing this was also another great reminder that there can be so many reasons why people lose their houses and my harmful, implicit biases can never inform how I interact with this population."

"I really appreciate Dr. Ellert coming in to talk about Circle the City because I had seen many patients referred there at Street Med, but I did not know much about what it was. Dr. Ellert helped found Circle the City to address the issue of discharging unhoused patients from medical care. Many of these patients had nowhere to go and providing sustained care could be a challenge. Circle the City was founded to help meet this need, with clinics to provide ongoing care to unhoused patients coming out of acute care. They now also have mobile clinics to administer medical care to patients closer to where they live and to help with overdose prevention.

Dr. Ellert walked us through a lot of potential complications in treating unhoused patients that I had not even though of. For example, some commonly prescribed medications can cause patients to either sweat excessively or not enough. Heat on pavement can cause second and third degree burns. Dr. Ellert also mentioned that many more people are becoming unhoused for the first time in their lives at the age of 55 or older. This raises a whole other range of issues, as many of them have underlying conditions that are complicated by their underlying conditions. I am curious why more people are becoming unhoused after 55 and I would like to know more about it. The clinical rotations at Circle the City seem interesting and are something I may want to explore."

"I enjoyed hearing about how circle the city started and how to get involved. The curriculum makes it a streamlined process to participate in circle the city. I did not realize how close circle the city was to me as I live within walking distance from the parson family clinic. I feel ready to get involved after talking to Dr. Ellert and I appreciate him taking the time to come and talk about circle the city."