It was just another day at the office for Hope Wilson, RN, when officers from the Braintree Department of Public Health gave her GPS coordinates to find the man holed up deep in the woods and in need of medical attention.

Having worked at Father Bill's emergency shelter in Quincy, MA, for nearly 15 years, Wilson has become a familiar and trusted face to the homeless patients she treats. She visits them in the clinic, on the streets and, recently for the first time, in the woods.

"That's unusual for any homeless person to be deep in the woods. They're usually very close to the street, not far from people and activity," Wilson said. "I've found that if someone is deep in the woods, it's because they're very mentally ill and very paranoid, and that was the case."

Wilson never makes such visits alone, and was accompanied this time by two colleagues, so she had nothing to fear.

"He's a patient who I hadn't seen in 6 years, but he recognized me immediately," she said. "He said, 'Hope, what are you doing way out here?' He was more worried about me, I think."

Father Bill's Place

Happenstance brought Wilson to Father Bill's Place, but a love for the job has kept her there for more than a decade. Father Bill's, which recently merged resources with MainSpring Coalition, helps people obtain a home by giving temporary shelter and food, finding safe and affordable housing, and providing permanent housing with supportive services.

The emergency shelter in Quincy houses up to 105 men and women every night, and another shelter in Brockton cares for up to 65. During a typical year, Father Bill's serves more than 2,500 individuals.

In Quincy, Wilson provides nursing services 5 days a week through Boston Health Care for the Homeless Program (BHCHP), and BHCHP physician Jessie Gaeta, MD, makes weekly visits to the shelter. Father Bill's is one of more than 80 sites in the Boston area where BHCHP provides healthcare services.

Fill-In Opportunity

Wilson previously worked as an office support nurse at the Quincy Visiting Nurse Association, triaging calls from patients and relaying doctor's orders to other nurses.

"I never left the building or got to see patients," she said. "It was the first job I ever had where I didn't have contact with the patient. I hated it."

When the VNA nurse who made two to three weekly trips to Father Bill's went on vacation, Wilson eagerly filled in. She didn't face much competition for the job.

"No one else wanted to do it; they thought working at the shelter was a bad idea," she said. "I think most people have an image of homelessness as the drunken bum shivering on a heating grate, talking to himself. I didn't care what it was; I just wanted to get out of the office."

Wilson was "pretty much amazed" by the people she encountered at Father Bill's and quickly realized the stereotypical image did not represent the majority of the homeless population.

When the Quincy VNA went out of business, Father Bill's asked Wilson to stay on staff until they could find funding, which they did about a year later through BHCHP. The program brought Wilson in as a full-time nurse working at the clinic 5 days a week, as well as a second nurse and a physician who each work 1 day a week, and a benefits representative who walks patients through the sometimes-complicated process of getting insurance.