UW nursing student extols virtues of Tent City 3

With the City of Seattle struggling with how to handle its homeless crisis, KIRO Radio’s Ron Upshaw and Don O’Neill decided to find some people who were “doing it right.” That includes the nursing students at the University of Washington who volunteered to wash and mend the feet of their homeless neighbors at Tent City 3.

Related: Lines drawn on Seattle homeless camping issue

“I love it. I think it’s the best thing ever with the University of Washington,” Jonathan Tin, one of the roughly 40 UW nursing students at the event, told the Ron and Don Show. “I was so proud of this institution for doing that because being nurses, we are 100 percent about advocacy. And as a university that talks about diversity and talks about vulnerable populations, this is their way of putting words into action. I couldn’t be more proud of being a student of the university.”

Tent City 3

Tent City 3 is an authorized encampment operated by the nonprofit Seattle Housing and Resource Effort. It arose from a request by the Tent City Collective – a group of UW students, alumni and Tent City 3 residents.

According to The Seattle Times, Tent City 3 moved onto the UW campus in early January with about 60 residents and is believed to be the first time a major public university has ever hosted a tent city on campus. The tent city is expected to remain on campus until March 18 and host up to 99 people.

The UW School of nursing hosted the first of five potlucks and foot care clinics on Thursday. The next one is set for Jan. 26.

Tin said he learned from speaking with the homeless community about the realities that go with living outside.

“The truth is, they do sleep cold, unfortunately,” Tin said. “They do the best they can, we do the best we can as well. But that’s the sad truth.”

Tin explained that foot health is extra important during the winter, as it is among the extremities farthest from the heart and gets the least amount of circulation.

“They get numb so people who injury themselves on their feet, whether or not they stub their toes or they cut it, they don’t even realize that they do,” he said. “Also, with the homeless population, they don’t get the adequate amount of foot care. They don’t take showers, they don’t wash their feet very often. Sometimes they wear the same pair of socks for weeks on end and their shoes, it’s not the best quality. Sometimes they don’t even have shoes and socks.”

“In this situation, the focus usually is on the feet just because of how little attention they get,” Tin said. “They can get callused, you can get fungal infections there. It’s just important that we look at it to provide that kind of care.”

Ron and Don highlighted two other homeless advocates around the state. The first was Cassie Franklin, CEO of Cocoon House, which helps homeless teens in Snohomish County on huge donation from Seahawks.

The other was Tiffany Burke, of Tacoma’s Warmth Wagon homeless clothing drive. Burke collects warm items from the community, drives around in her car and hands them out to people on the streets who can’t get to a shelter.

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