From very modest beginnings in 1991, the PHS has grown to participate in activities such as a neighborhood bank; an art gallery for Downtown Eastside artists; North America’s first supervised injection site; a community hospital ward, where deep-tissue infections are treated with intravenous antibiotics; a free dental clinic; and the Portland Clinic, where I have worked for the past eight years. The core mandate of the PHS is to provide domiciles for people who would otherwise be homeless. The statistics are stark.
