One Bridge to the Next

Streaming video - 2008

In 1992, Dr. Jim Withers began doing night rounds on the streets of Pittsburgh, offering medical assistance and support to the homeless. Fifteen years later, the organization he founded, Operation Safety Net, is a pioneering model in a growing movement to provide healthcare to the homeless. Dr. Withers and his team navigate riverbanks, bridges, and alleyways to bring medical help and social justice to those who have fallen through the cracks of society. The complex condition of the chronically homeless is depicted through vivid characters – a 70 year old former architect, a laid-off steel mill worker, an ex- drag queen failing from cancer. In a time when our national healthcare policy is under increasing scrutiny, this story illumina...tes the committed efforts within a single urban area to create a humane society and dignity for those on our streets. more