Capital mission: Opening heart and soul to the homeless

A family physician incorporates her Christian faith in her undertaking to heal on the streets of Washington, D.C.

By Damon Adams, AMNews staff. July 22, 2002.

Community Spirit
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Henry Jones could barely walk when he went to Christ House 11 years ago.

Once a hard-working husband and father, Jones had neglected his health and was homeless, sleeping in the crevices of Washington, D.C. After Jones made his way to Christ House, doctors and volunteers at the medical facility for the homeless put him on the path to recovery with proper nutrition and strength exercises for his ailing legs. He was diagnosed with diabetes and given medication.

Among those who helped heal Jones was Janelle Goetcheus, MD, a family physician who co-founded the nonprofit Christ House and has made it her calling to provide health care to the homeless for more than 25 years.

"She's a very loving person, and she's always out there helping the homeless people," said Jones, who now works as Christ House's shower program coordinator and serves on its board of directors.

For her efforts, Dr. Goetcheus was recognized in March by the American Medical Association with a 2002 Pride in the Profession award. Yet the soft-spoken doctor is humble about her work. She shrugs off the label given to her by some peers and press articles: the Mother Teresa to Washington, D.C.'s homeless. "I don't know who came up with that one. That's pretty far-flung," she said.

But Dr. Goetcheus has a heart for those in need. And her Christian faith is largely what drives her.

"Early on, I knew that the way you love God is to love your neighbor," said the Christ House medical director, who prays an hour each day.

Dr. Goetcheus, 61, earned her medical degree from the Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis, in 1965 and did an internship at Evanston Hospital in Evanston, Ill. She wanted to treat the medically underserved and thought overseas was the place to be. But in 1975 she and her husband, Allen, a Methodist minister, visited a low-income housing facility in Washington, D.C., while waiting for visas to Pakistan. They listened to poor residents describe their difficulties in getting medical care. [...]