A New Documentary Sheds Light on One Man’s Crusade to Bring Health Care to the World’s Homeless
*"Go to the People" will be released in 2024. Every homeless person has their own story to tell about their journey to the street.*
*LOS ANGELES, CA / ACCESSWIRE / January 10, 2024 / *A new film from* Backstory Partners* documents the incredible efforts of *Dr. James Withers*, MD FACP, a physician within the Pittsburgh Mercy health system, and an Assistant Clinical Professor of Medicine at the University of Pittsburgh and his outreach work bringing medical help to the homeless.
*Go to the People*
Inspired by childhood memories of accompanying his father, a family physician, on house calls, and his mother, a nurse, on home-care visits, *Dr. Jim Withers* began providing medical care to Pittsburgh's unsheltered homeless population in 1992.
Initially dressing as a homeless person, *"Dr. Jim"* began making nighttime street rounds in the alleys and under the bridges of the city. Inspired by this noble outreach, other clinical volunteers joined in, and *Operation Safety Net* was born. Today, the program is recognized as one of the nation's first full-time *"street medicine"* concerns, and it continues to set the standard for this unique form of health care. Over time, Dr. Withers' work inspired a movement that has since spread throughout the nation and the world. A new documentary called "Go to the People" communicates Dr. Jim's holistic health care vision while showing his efforts firsthand and describing the effects of the movement he has promulgated.
"When I decided to make this film, Dr. Withers told me that I would be changed by it, and he was right. I learned from Dr. Jim that every interaction with homeless people must begin with listening to their concerns and, sometimes, just hearing their stories." -- *Jeff Sewald, Backstory's Writer-Producer of the film.*
"My work with people *living on the streets* came not so much from my sense that they needed me, but that I needed them. What I do is modeled on the house calls that I made with my dad. To him, every patient was a person first. His visits were a means of connecting with the needy. I have begun to see pieces of myself in each homeless person I met. It's been a privilege to be welcomed into their camps, to connect with them as human beings. I have come to see health care and health care training as a giant machine that serves its own purposes rather than those of the people who are ill or suffering." -- *Dr. Jim Withers*.
For more information, visit: Go To The People - FilmFreeway
*WHAT:* "Go to the People", Documentary
*WHEN:* To be released in 2024
*Contact Information*
Cherry Hepburn
Publicist
cherry@putnam-smith.com
818.505.1104
Megan McVey
Assn. Publicist
megan@putnam-smith.com
818.505.1104
*Related Images*
*Go to the People*
*BackStory Productions Logo*
*SOURCE:* Backstory Partners
View the original press release on newswire.com.