DETROIT – There are nearly 80,000 homeless children in Michigan, and many of them never receive medical care because homeless parents are afraid.
Peggy Richardson is the medical director of our SAY Detroit Family Health Clinic, the nation's first clinic devoted to homeless children and their mothers.
"The problem is the hospitals are full of social workers, and if your information is not the way they want it to be, then it can cause some social problems at home and it can cause ladies to lose their children," said Richardson.
Richardson had a full-time practice of her own when the clinic opened six years ago.
"I was doing fine but I wanted to do something, and here I find that I can give enough to satisfy myself," Richardson said.
The clinic saw more than 6,000 patients last year. It's grown from just handling emergencies to preventive and overall health.
"We have yoga, we have weight-loss classes for them, we have aerobics for our patients, we have physical therapy up the hall for our patients," said Richardson.
Richardson was inspired to work at the clinic based on her own Detroit experience.
"We were in the middle of the ghetto," Richardson said.
"There was no place like this back then," said Mitch Albom.
"Not at all, not at all," said Richardson. "We didn't go to doctors."
Today Richardson is more than a doctor -- she is an inspirational figure to volunteers, staffers and patients.
"I am here because I am doing something for somebody that won't pay me back, but it's like a donation into the universe. It always comes back," said Richardson.
From the streets of Detroit to helping those that are still living on them, Peggy Richardson is a major healer in the heart of Detroit.
Heart of Detroit