Thursday, October 3, 2019 | 6:00PM | The Harvard Club | Boston
Thank you to all who joined us and supported our 20th Anniversary Celebration
Health Care UNSCRIPTED: Building Bridges for Women in Need
ABOUT THE GALA
Health Care Without Walls celebrated 20 years of innovative health care support for
the growing-and often overlooked-population of women who are homeless or living in
dire poverty. Health Care UNSCRIPTED, our 20th Anniversary Gala, honored Founder and
President Dr. Roseanna Means and her unscripted role of building bridges and giving voice to
the lives and needs of homeless women. The evening featured a cocktail reception,
silent and live auction, gourmet dinner and live entertainment.
ABOUT HEALTH CARE WITHOUT WALLS
Despite exceptional health care resources in Boston, there are still huge unmet needs for
homeless and marginally housed women and families. Teams of volunteer physicians, paid
nurses and community health workers provide "gap" care for acute and chronic illness in our
clinics at Rosie's Place and Women's Lunch Place.
We also have 'Bridge' programs that focus on care coordination. Our Bridges to Elders
program at the Women's Lunch Place provides a community health worker and nurse
practitioner to assist women aged 60 or older who need our help. Our Bridges to Moms
program, affiliated with the Brigham and Women's Hospital, helps young women
experiencing homelessness care for themselves during pregnancy and after.
By increasing access to care, we are helping women re-engage with the health care system,
reducing the need for costly crisis-care and improving health outcomes of Boston's most
vulnerable population.
20th Anniversary Event Committee
Co-Chairs
- Colleen Bartling
- Kathryn Ostman
Committee
- Elizabeth Decker
- Laurie Quimby
- Kelly Sohn
- Nancy Wheeler
About Dr. Roseanna H. Means MD
Roseanna H. Means, MD founded Health Care Without Walls in 1999 as "Women of Means" with the aim of helping homeless women get the "means" to move forward through an innovative approach that was personalized, gender-specific and trauma-informed. Despite the myriad of health care services in Boston, homeless women were still falling through the health care safety net, so Dr. Means made the choice to be their voice and advocate for a care model that emphasized context and accessibility. Dr. Means remodeled the assumptions and expectations embedded in traditional health care delivery into life-saving and cost-effective solutions that preserve each woman's dignity and respect..