A Hidden Epidemic: Homelessness and Health Inequity

This episode of A Hidden Epidemic features Dr. Stephen Pimpare with Health for Homeless member Nikola. Dr. Pimpare is the founder and director of the UNH Public Service & Nonprofit Leadership program and a Faculty Fellow at the Carsey School of Public Policy. Dr. Pimpare previously served as a senior-level administrator of non-profit organizations addressing issues of poverty, hunger, and homelessness throughout New York City. One of the programs he helped to create, One City Café, New York’s first non-profit restaurant, was hailed by the New York Times as “the reinvention of the soup kitchen” and subsequently received the Victory Against Hunger Award from the U.S. Congressional Hunger Center.

This episode of A Hidden Epidemic features Dr. John Ecker with Health for Homeless members Kanish and Nyah. Dr. Ecker is the Director of Research and Evaluation at the COH. In this role, he has been fortunate to collaborate with with a number of community partners on their research and evaluation activities. His research interests are varied and include homelessness, housing, Housing First, community integration, and LGBTQ2S studies. In his spare time, John is an avid tennis player/fan and has a love of pop culture.

This episode of A Hidden Epidemic features Dr. Andrew Bond with Health for Homeless members Kanish and Nyah. Dr. Bond is currently the medical director at Inner City Health Associates, working to develop health system solutions for the health of vulnerable and marginalized peoples. He is also a staff physician in the department of family medicine at St. Michael's Hospital.

This episode of A Hidden Epidemic features Dr. Kulkarni with Health for Homeless members Sarah and Nyah. Dr. Kulkarni is currently the chief medical officer in the city of Pune in India. Tune in to this month’s episode to learn more about the advantages and disadvantages of different healthcare models found across the globe and how it impacts healthcare accessibility.

This episode of A Hidden Epidemic features Dr. Cynthia Puddu with Health for Homeless members Nikola and Nyah. Dr. Cynthia has been a faculty member at Grant MacEwan University since 2001 and specializes in Health promotion and community health. Tune in to learn more about her work with the Indigenous population in this discussion about the housing and cultural needs of Indigenous youth. 

Dr. Kaitlin Shcwan is the Director of Research for The Shift, an international movement to secure the right to housing, and a senior researcher at the Canadian Observatory on Homelessness. With a special focus on women's homelessness, Kaitlin Schwan speaks on her research and expertise relating to poverty and homelessness in this episode of A Hidden Epidemic: Homelessness and Health Inequity.

Join Health for Homeless founders Annie and Kanish as they speak with guest Michael Braithwaite. Michael is the CEO of Blue Door, the largest emergency housing, health, and employment provider in York Region and offers valuable insights on how youth can take action.

This episode of A Hidden Epidemic: Homelessness and Inequity welcomes Dr. Erin Dej, a critical criminologist and qualitative researcher at Wilfred Laurier University who studies marginalization and exclusion with a primary focus on homelessness and mental health.

This episode of A Hidden Epidemic features Dr. Jeffery Turnbull with Health for Homeless founders Kanish and Annie. Dr. Turnbull helped establish Ottawa Inner City Health, which works to improve access to health care for individuals experiencing homelessness. Tune in to learn more about his work in this intriguing discussion about the unhoused population amidst the COVID-19 pandemic.

Join Health for Homeless founders Nicholas and Annie as they speak with Dr. Carrie Marshall, an Assistant Professor at the University of Western Ontario. This episode features conversations surrounding mental health and its relation to poverty and homelessness.

Dr. Abe Ourdshoorn is an Associate Professor at the University of Western Ontario in the Arthur Labatt Family School of Nursing. Tune in as he speaks with NIket and Kanish from Health for Homeless on topics surrounding homelessness prevention, women's homelessness, and others.

Join us to hear from Shania and Anya from the Canadian Courage Project, a GTA-based non-profit supporting the homeless youth population and their animal companions. The Canadian Courage Project (“CCP”) was launched by Shania and Anya in May of 2020 after seeing a gap in the current system both supporting homeless youth with animal companions and youth empowerment at the secondary level. The CCP's goal is to empower young people to strive for social impact, push boundaries in the workplace, support homeless youth, and offer services for one's animal companions.