March 20, 2025 (ATLANTA): Mercy Care is pleased to announce that its Street Medicine Team has been selected as an honoree in the Community Outreach Champion of the Year category for Atlanta Business Chronicle’s 2025 Health Care Champion Awards. The Annual Health Care Champion Awards honors the city’s frontline health care heroes alongside the industry’s most innovative and influential leaders. 

The Community Outreach category recognizes a healthcare organization that has developed a program that improved access to and the quality of medical service in low-income or indigent communities. The Street Medicine Team was chosen for its outreach work in bringing HIV education, screening, and treatment to Atlantans who are experiencing homelessness.  

“It was our Street Medicine Team who recognized the opportunity to collaborate with local hospitals as a means to connect with our city’s most vulnerable citizens,” said Sister Jane Gerety, Mercy Care chief mission officer. “We are proud to be recognized by our community for continuing the Sisters of Mercy’s mission of bringing healthcare where it’s most needed. Our work in fighting the spread of HIV helps the entire Atlanta community.”  

With a recent study’s finding that Atlanta had the third-highest rate of new HIV diagnoses among U.S. metro areas in 2021, (accounting for over 1,500 new cases), Mercy Care’s team feels it’s important to incorporate HIV care into its outreach efforts.  

HIV infections require daily medication and regular screenings to monitor viral loads. Patients living with HIV who don’t have permanent housing find it difficult to stay engaged in care. For clients without stable housing, medication can easily get lost, stolen, rain-soaked. In addition, the amount of initial paperwork that’s required can be off-putting for many who are already distrustful of institutions. The Mercy Care Street Medicine Team is in a unique position to be a conduit of ongoing care for all clients managing diseases, including those with HIV.  

To address the problem, the Team’s nine multidisciplinary professionals coordinated with downtown hospitals to meet patients while still admitted to begin the trust-building process. They are then able to find patients after they have been discharged so that the Street Medicine Team could maintain engagement and help clients manage their daily care regimen and connect them with partnering social care organizations. If we can help lower our patients’ viral loads to undetectable, we are also reducing the risk of HIV for others, which benefits the entire community. 

“Expanding our scope of practice to include integrated HIV primary care was no easy task, but we have been thrilled and honored to participate in this life-changing work,” commented Dr. Joy Fernandez de Narayan, Mercy Care Street Medicine Manager. “Our team is honored to be recognized and pleased to celebrate among our industry peers who are also doing great work.” 

Five representatives of our Street Medicine Team attended last night’s awards event at Bishop Station with the city’s leaders in healthcare: David Holland, Joy Fernandez de Narayan, Johnny Smith, Lisa Brydson, Michelle Keith, and Lauren Hopper.  

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About Mercy Care 

For 40 years, Mercy Care has worked with compassion and integrity to bring clinically excellent healthcare to everyone who needs it, regardless of their circumstances or ability to pay. Continuing the legacy of the Sisters of Mercy ministry founded in 1831, Mercy Care is Atlanta’s only federally qualified health center designated to serve the homeless (in its Decatur Street clinic). With four locations supported by a street medicine team and mobile clinic, Mercy Care provides comprehensive care for the whole person with a focus on those who have been left behind by traditional healthcare. In 2024, Mercy Care saw more patients than any other year in its history. Mercy Care provided more than 77,000 appointments to more than 19,000 people. Along with the need for primary care, Mercy Care continues to see increased demand for psychiatric, dental and vision care across all locations. Mercy Care addresses one of the primary root causes of poor health through its recent construction of affordable housing in downtown Atlanta. 170 units opened in October 2024 and an additional 98 will open in 2026. Mercy Care is a member of the Trinity Health System. More information is available at www.mercyatlanta.org.