When an apartment fire in Tumwater occurred Oct. 15, it left dozens of residents unable to return home. Some of the residents also lost access to essentials like oxygen, insulin and heart medications that they needed to manage their health.
A call from the Tumwater Fire Department connected them with St. Peter Hospital’s Providence Swedish Mobile Health Clinic team. Caregivers were ready to help.
Dawn Greene, nurse manager of Providence Swedish’s Mobile Health Clinic, was working with the street medicine team when a Tumwater battalion chief reached out. Residents needed medical support, and they could not get back into their apartments to retrieve medications and equipment.
Within about 15 minutes, Greene and the team arrived to provide care.
“And we just pivoted,” Greene said. “It took us about 15 minutes to get out there.”
The group included a street medicine physician, two resident physicians from the Providence St. Peter Family Medicine residency program and a behavioral health professional from the program.
Working with the American Red Cross, which had identified residents with medical needs, they helped approximately 10 to 12 people over about two hours.
The team ordered insulin, secured oxygen and an oxygen concentrator, and helped address other medication needs. Behavioral health support was also available to those that needed it.
Relationships that made a quick response possible
Through its community outreach, Providence’s street medicine team has been building relationships with other service providers, including local fire departments. Greene had met the Tumwater battalion chief through that work and had joined him on a previous outreach visit. Because of these previous connections, when the fire created an immediate need for medical care, he knew who to call.
For Greene, the response reflected the value of those partnerships and the importance of organizations with different resources working together to help neighbors.
Alongside the medical response, community organizations helped address clothing, supplies and temporary housing needs. Greene said Catholic Community Services made funds available for residents connected with its program to have housing that night.
The experience also prompted conversations about how Providence’s team could support local fire departments during future emergencies.
Meeting people where they are
Providence’s street medicine team typically cares for people who are already experiencing homelessness. This response brought the team to residents suddenly facing housing instability and interrupted access to care. The circumstances were different, but the approach remained the same: bring care directly to people who need it.
“It’s meeting people where they’re at,” Greene said.
Rather than asking displaced residents to navigate a visit to a medical office, the team traveled directly to them and began helping.
“It was providing urgent care for individuals who didn’t have access to care,” Greene said.
For residents unable to retrieve essential medications or oxygen, that meant having medical needs addressed while they worked through the immediate disruption of the fire.
For Greene, it was a practical expression of Providence’s mission, providing access to care with compassion and dignity, wherever the need arises.
