The most important thing Arabella Johnson brought with her on outreach visits with Street Medicine at Pitt was not a medical kit. It was a willingness to listen to people experiencing homelessness.
Johnson, an MPH student in Pitt Public Health’s Department of Behavioral and Community Health Sciences, joined the Street Medicine team nearly a year ago as part of her practicum. The clinical outreach program provides care directly to people living outdoors or in unstable housing. She quickly learned that dignity-informed items are just as essential as medical supplies.
Hair ties, a small brush, scented lotion and deodorant were frequent requests. “We are not just trying to give the most basic items to get someone through,” she said. “If we can provide dignity-informed items too, why would we not do that?”
These conversations pushed Johnson to design dignity kits that reflect real needs rather than generic donations.
As she moved through weekly rounds downtown, she noticed that many women experiencing homelessness were difficult to reach. They were keeping themselves safe, often staying close to shelters or away from public spaces that outreach teams regularly visit. When the team did meet women, Johnson saw that feminine hygiene supplies were limited and often not the products people preferred.
She began talking directly with women and created a short survey to identify which products were most useful and why. The responses challenged common assumptions. Nearly all surveyed women preferred liquid soap because bar soap becomes messy and hard to store. They also preferred tampons to pads, since pads can cause irritation when worn all day, especially without access to clean underwear.
“A lot of people donate bar soap because you can buy a lot at a low cost,” Johnson said. “But every woman I interviewed preferred liquid soap. Bar soap dries out skin and is hard to store. Once it gets wet in a backpack, it can get everything dirty, so it ends up being single use.”
To build the kits, she began reaching out to companies for bulk donations of underwear, tampons, liquid soap, and wipes. She presented her findings at the school’s Public Health Practice Showcase late last year and received the Director’s Award in recognition of her efforts to improve population health.
“Arabella’s presentation on the unmet need for personal hygiene and menstrual health products among people experiencing homelessness demonstrated the impact that one committed individual can make when they begin by centering community voices,” said Tina Ndoh, PhD, director of the Center for Public Health Practice and associate professor of environmental and occupational health.
The project will continue under Street Medicine at Pitt, where Johnson has taken on an expanded leadership role. Her goal is to assemble enough kits to distribute regularly on rounds and, as supplies grow, to share them with local shelters.
“Arabella represents the very best of public health leadership,” added Anna Marie White, MD, medical director of Street Medicine, director of the Center for Street Medicine at Pitt’s School of Medicine, and Johnson’s preceptor. “She identified a critical unmet need and developed a community-informed intervention grounded in the lived expertise of people who are experiencing homelessness. She then carried out the project with exceptional organization, teamwork and initiative, and it is already having a real and measurable impact.”
Looking ahead, Johnson hopes her project strengthens both material support and public understanding, starting with the youngest members of the community. She has already presented the program to middle school-aged students. “We form assumptions very early about people experiencing homelessness,” she said. “If we can start dispelling myths in middle schools or youth groups, that is powerful.”
-Clare Collins
