AZ Central: How Circle the City is connecting Arizonans experiencing homelessness with health care

John Finocchi said he had been keeping a careful eye on his sugar intake. He hadn’t had insulin in three weeks, and as a Type 1 diabetic, he knew he was at risk of serious complications.

Finocchi had been trying to fit a doctor’s visit into his schedule while living on the Human Services Campus in downtown Phoenix. He was starting to feel weak after limiting the foods he ate for some time.

These are the types of situations Circle the City’s mobile medical units are made for, staff said. The clinics, each outfitted with two medical bays in a truck, are stationed in different places around the Valley to provide medical assistance for people experiencing homelessness. Their goal is to make care easier to access for as many people as possible.

“The people who get harmed the most are the people out here,” said Thomas Davis, a patient navigator with Circle the City who often works in the mobile units.

Circle the City is a nonprofit providing medical care for people experiencing homelessness in the Phoenix area. The organization provides a variety of medical services, including a respite center and a street medicine team. The key, staff said, is building trust with people who have often been let down in the past.