(BIVN) – The 21st annual International Street Medicine Symposium (ISMS) recently took place in Hilo.

The event, held at the Grand Naniloa Hotel from September 10th through 12th, was hosted by The Street Medicine Institute in partnership with local co-host HOPE Services Hawai‘i. 

This was the first time the ISMS was hosted in Hawaiʻi.

photo courtesy HOPE Services, Street Medicine Institute news release

From a HOPE Services news release:

The completely sold-out educational event, which brought together hundreds of global experts from seven countries and 37 US states. The 400 attendees included advocates, medical professionals, community health workers, and people with lived experience of homelessness, all dedicated to providing healthcare and social services to unsheltered people where they live. The symposium featured clinical presentations, innovative research, and best practices in street medicine through lectures, workshops, and poster sessions.

A key feature of the symposium was Host City Day on Wednesday, which highlighted the unique work and culturally informed practices of street medicine practitioners serving Hawai‘i. The event included demonstrations and displays of homeless outreach and street medicine vehicles used in Hawaiʻi, hosted by the staff who operate them.

photo courtesy HOPE Services, Street Medicine Institute news release

“A symposium like this gives us the chance to hear from each other, to learn from each other, and to take those ideas back to our own communities,” said Jeff Olivet, Senior Advisor at the Harvard Initiative on Health & Homelessness, in the news release. 

“At HOPE Services Hawai’i, we’re working to make homelessness rare, brief, and nonrecurring,” said Brandee Menino, CEO of HOPE Services Hawai‘i. “We’re just so excited that we get to work with Street Medicine Practitioners from around the world. We would not be able to improve our practices without the experts doing this work from around the world.”