Medicine in the Streets: A Conversation with Dr. Jim O'Connell and Dr. Eileen Reilly as featured in “Rough Sleepers” by Tracy Kidder

Please note: Due to high registration, the Boston Public Library is closing registration at 5:15 PM today, June 5. Patrons interested in attending after that time are welcome to check in with a BPL staff member outside of the Rabb Lecture Hall closer to 6 PM to see if any seats are available. To register, please visit https://www.eventbrite.com/e/dr-jim-oconnell-through-lens-of-new-book-rough-sleepers-by-tracy-kidder-tickets-617710206857.

Join a conversation with the Homelessness Outreach Team featured in Rough Sleepers, a recent publication by Pulitzer Prize winner Tracy Kidder. Dr. Jim O’Connell, President of Boston Health Care for the Homeless Program (BHCHP), and Dr. Eileen Reilly, Street Team Psychiatrist for BHCHP, will converse and answer questions about their work providing medical care and psychological support to help stabilize and heal Boston’s rough sleepers. Kathleen Young, Co-chair of the Homelessness Task Force of the Neighborhood Association of the Back Bay (NABB), will moderate the discussion.

Audience members will gain a better understanding of the diverse social, medical, and psychiatric issues leading people to find themselves living in the street. This program will also offer an overview of effective services and their limitations, and how housed citizens can help reduce homelessness.

Rough Sleepers: Dr. Jim O'Connell's urgent mission to bring healing to homeless people has been described by The Baltimore Sun as a "master of the nonfiction narrative." In this book, Tracy Kidder shows how one person can make a difference as he tells the story of the 30-year career of Dr. Jim O’Connell, a gifted man who invented ways to create a community of care for a city’s unhoused population, including those who sleep on the streets—the "rough sleepers." Kidder is the author of many books and winner of the Pulitzer Prize, the National Book Award, and the Robert F. Kennedy Award, among other literary prizes. Copies of the book may be ordered online at Bookshop.org.

James J. O’Connell, MD, President of BHCHP, and Assistant Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School, graduated summa cum laude from the University of Notre Dame in 1970 and received his master’s degree in theology from Cambridge University in 1972. After graduating from Harvard Medical School in 1982, he completed a residency in Internal Medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH). In 1985, Dr. O'Connell began fulltime clinical work with homeless individuals as the founding physician of the Boston Health Care for the Homeless Program, which now serves over 11,000 homeless persons each year in two hospital-based clinics (Boston Medical Center and MGH) and in more than 40 shelters and outreach sites in Boston.

Eileen Reilly, MD, has dedicated her professional career to the care of homeless people. As a college student, she was first exposed to this population as a volunteer for Boston’s Pine Street Inn. She subsequently worked there for six years as a clinical coordinator and administrator and while working there co-founded the Women’s Lunch Place in Boston, a shelter for homeless women. Since graduating from the University of Massachusetts Medical school, and completing a residency in psychiatry, she has worked with homeless persons with psychiatric illness. She currently works for the MA Department of Mental Health at MA Mental Health Center and at Boston Health Care for the Homeless Program, rendering care at Boston’s Pine Street Inn, St. Francis House, Women’s Lunch Place, and to Boston’s unsheltered homeless persons.

Educating others, including medical and psychiatric residents, social workers, and students about caring for homeless persons is an essential aspect of her work. She is on the faculty of Harvard Medical School and received the Massachusetts Psychiatric Society award for outstanding public service.

Kathleen Young is Co-chair of the Homelessness Task Force of the Neighborhood Association of the Back Bay and a lifelong advocate for access to effective healthcare and disease prevention. Ms. Young’s 30-year health policy career included positions as Director of Planning at the Massachusetts Hospital Association and at National Medical Care, Inc., and as executive director of APUA, an international research and education organization, based at Tufts Medical School, with chapters in over 30 countries. She has served as a member of the national FDA Anti-Infective Drugs Advisory Committee and as a healthcare policy and regulatory consultant on projects for various governmental agencies, national foundations, and international corporations.

This program is presented in partnership by the Boston Public Library, the Neighborhood Association of the Back Bay (NABB), and Boston Healthcare for the Homeless Program (BHCHP). The NABB Homelessness Task Force (HTF), co-chaired by Kathleen Young and Vicki Smith, works to increase understanding of homelessness and advocate for effective interventions. The NABB and HTF were influential in promoting the development of 100 new units of permanent supportive housing in their neighborhood.

About the BPL's COVID-19 health and safety protocols:

• Program attendees are recommended to wear masks covering their noses and mouths.
• Read the BPL's latest COVID-19 guidelines for visiting the library.
• Program speakers may remove their masks during the program.

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