Since joining the Street Medicine Kalamazoo (SMKzoo) team at WMed in 2021, Nic Helmstetter, MD, FAAP, FACP, FHM, has taken immense pride in the way he and his colleagues have been able to put in place a unique model of care for unhoused and unsheltered people in Kalamazoo.
The initiative, established in 2021 and led by Sravani Alluri, MD, as program director, and Dr. Helmstetter as associate program director, has proven successful and is breaking down longtime systemic barriers by taking medical care directly to those in need and establishing relationships with the unhoused community that are based on trust, mutual respect, and compassion.
And the efforts haven’t gone unnoticed.
In June, Dr. Helmstetter learned that his work with SMKzoo led the Michigan Chapter of the American College of Physicians (MI-ACP) to select him as the recipient of the 2024 Fostering Diversity Award. The award recognizes an individual with outstanding accomplishments in advancing diversity in clinical medicine or research, and/or access to care in relation to diverse populations.
“I was completely taken aback and surprised, and I had this pang of gratitude and humility considering the list of likely countless other worthy nominees and the good work that is happening around the state among my colleagues,” said Dr. Helmstetter, who serves as an assistant professor in the departments of Medicine and Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine at WMed.
Dr. Helmstetter is set to receive the Fostering Diversity Award on Saturday, October 26, at the MI-ACP 2024 Annual Scientific Meeting, which will be held in downtown Kalamazoo. The award marks the second time in as many years that Dr. Helmstetter has been recognized by the MI-ACP. In 2023, he was named the inaugural recipient of the Dr. Jan Rival Early Career Physician Award.
As he spoke recently about the accomplishment, one he says tops the list of honors he has received in his young career, Dr. Helmstetter said none of it would have been possible without the gumption and vision of Dr. Alluri and her push to launch Street Medicine Kalamazoo when she was still a resident at WMed in the Family Medicine-Kalamazoo residency program. Dr. Alluri is now an assistant professor in the medical school’s Department of Family and Community Medicine.
Since that time, the program has grown exponentially year over year and Drs. Alluri and Helmstetter, along with Sarah Darweesh, MD, assistant professor in the Department of Family and Community Medicine, and a host of resident physicians and medical students during their rotations and clerkships, now perform more than 1,500 clinical visits a year. More recently, in 2023, the team was featured in The New York Times and purchased a 2018 Ford Transit van that serves as a mobile clinic and has allowed the team to greatly expand its services to the community.
Dr. Helmstetter also noted that the team currently has close to 10 quality-improvement and clinical-research projects in differing stages of development. Those projects, he said, are aimed at helping the team of physicians and learners better understand patients’ needs, what other resources might be needed to help patients, and what initiatives by SMKzoo are having the greatest impact.
“What I’m most proud of are the people that work with our organization, the strong connections we’ve made with our patients, the lives we’ve touched and having those patients also touch our lives,” Dr. Helmstetter said. “The impact they’ve had on me not only as a doctor but as a human has been life-changing.”
In addition to his colleagues, Dr. Helmstetter said his work with SMKzoo and the recent honor from MI-ACP would not have been possible without the support and sacrifice of his family, which includes his wife, Liz Haworth-Hoeppner, MD, a pediatric hospitalist at Bronson Methodist Hospital, and the couple’s young son.
As he looks ahead, Dr. Helmstetter said he is excited to see what’s next and how the SMKzoo team can continue to grow and increase its impact in the community.
“Everyone’s got a story and they’re all different and if you’ve met one patient, you’ve met one patient,” Dr. Helmstetter said. “We’re meeting each patient where they’re at and ascertaining their unique health goals, their unique needs, and their unique situation. I’m really proud of that work.”