A Frank Conversation About Homelessness
Tue, Jul 15
|Freeport Performing Arts Center
With Cullen Ryan, Executive Director Community Housing of Maine, Deb Desantis, CEO of the Corporation for Supportive Housing, Dr. Jim O’Connell, President of Boston Health Care for the Homeless Program, and Tracy Kidder, author of Rough Sleepers, join this conversation about the homelessness crisis.
Time & Location
Jul 15, 2025, 7:00 PM – 8:30 PM
Freeport Performing Arts Center, 30 Holbrook St, Freeport, ME 04032, USA
About the Event
Dr. Jim O’Connell serves as the President of Boston Health Care for the Homeless Program and is an Assistant Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School. Dr. O’Connell received his medical degree from Harvard University in 1982 and completed residency in Internal Medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital. In 1985, he began full-time clinical work with homeless individuals as the founding physician of the program. He established the nation’s first medical respite program in 1985. Working with the MGH Laboratory of Computer Science, Dr. O’Connell designed and implemented the nation’s first computerized medical record for a homeless program. Dr. O’Connell served as the National Program Director of the Homeless Families Program of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. Dr. O’Connell is the editor of The Health Care of Homeless Persons: A Manual of Communicable Diseases and Common Problems in Shelters and on the Streets. His articles…