Women of Means

CONTACT:

148 Linden St., Suite 104A
Wellesley, MA 02481
781-239-0290
www.womenofmeans.org

Roseanne Means, Executive/Medical Director

DESCRIPTION:

Homelessness is dangerous and unhealthy for women. Over 90% report being raped or otherwise traumatized; 30-40% suffer from mental illness; 20-40% are substance abusers; all of WOM’s lone homeless women patients report having been beaten; over 80% have diagnosed afflictions. In 1999 Roseanna Means, M.D., a practicing physician with eight years’ experience providing medical care for people in homeless clinics, founded WOM. Noting that women were underrepresented among the patients, she learned that homeless women, often weakened by substance abuse, exhaustion, fear, or mental illness, actually avoided medical care. She recruited other doctors to provide pro bono publico -- “for public good” -- medical care to poor, homeless, and/or battered women on their own “turf ” -- in the shelters and drop-in centers, in non-threatening ways, not requiring patients’ names, birth dates, social security numbers, or even payment. Four years later, 16 physicians give 2,400 examinations yearly for women in nine Greater Boston shelters and centers; medical professionals are trained concerning homelessness and poverty; WOM has produced a Telephone Resource Directory, a Shelter Resource Directory, training modules, and a website. They have national attention: Family Circle Magazine awarded Dr. Means its 2002 "Halo." One person can make a difference. Let it be you as well.

(2003: HUMAN SERVICES: Girls and Women: General)