The Northwell Street Medicine Team is a mobile outreach program that brings primary care-style medical services directly to homeless people, an effort doctors and patients alike say is saving lives.
For Jenny, who's 43 years old and homeless, adequate healthcare, even in a parking lot outside a Popeyes in Brentwood, could be a lifesaver.
"We sleep in a tent. We've been going through this cold. We've been out here the whole winter," Jenny said.
Jenny and her partner Bryan, who's 50, have been homeless for three years now, and they're patients of Northwell's Street Medicine Team. It's been a partnership for over a year with the Long Island Coalition for the Homeless, which is helping people get better access to care and insurance. They've helped save Bryan from clots and pulmonary embolism.
"I almost died like four times from it, you know," Bryan said. "They are saving lives! That's my angel crew right there."
On Tuesday, they were out here again in the icy rain, but the obstacles of medically treating the thousands of homeless Long Islanders run the spectrum.
"And when you're fighting for your next meal, it could be difficult to prioritize getting to the doctor," said Dylan Schwarz of the Long Island Coalition for the Homeless.
"And what we have learned is that dignity and being treated with respect is so important," said Dr. Debbie Salas-Lopez of Northwell Institute for Community Health.
The team has just reached 3,800 miles on Long Island in the distance they've now traveled to treat about 93 different homeless patients, from Nassau County all the way out to the East End.
The visit with Bryan was part of an ongoing conversation to treat his high blood pressure. It takes time, but clinician Jennifer Stevens keeps at it.
"Besides, I won't have to keep badgering you anymore if you just take it," said Stevens on camera joking with Bryan.
At a time of year that seems gut-wrenching.
"I wish that I had more to give to my family. That's all that I care about," Jenny said.
Jenny and Bryan have three kids, and while a home could improve their health, on this day, just feeling seen gives them hope.
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