UST Nursing Students Bring Care, Compassion to Houston’s Homeless Community

In the rain, walking city blocks with sandwiches in hand, 35 nursing students from the University of St. Thomas encountered something they could not learn from a textbook: the dignity of the human person.

The students, from the University's Peavy School of Nursing, are serving Houston's homeless population through a partnership with Magnificat Houses, a nonprofit dedicated to sheltering and supporting individuals experiencing homelessness. Through hands-on service at Magnificat House, they are gaining real-world clinical experience while living out the University's core values of goodness, discipline, knowledge and community.

Under the guidance of Dr. Michael Sullivan, DBe, HEC-C, LFACHE, Interim Divisional Dean for the UST Center for Science and Health Professions and Program Director for the Cameron School of Business Healthcare Administration Graduate Program, students learning at Magnificat House conducted client assessments, assisted with housing applications, and educated residents on wellness and preventive care. But the work extended beyond the shelter walls.

Students also participated in street nursing-bringing care directly to individuals living on Houston's streets. They offered food, conversation and basic health support, often pausing simply to listen and pray.

"We went over to Dollar General and ran into a homeless veteran," Dr. Sullivan said. "We started talking to him and learned that he was in Desert Storm. He had his pit bull with him, Bella Marie, and the nursing students asked if they could do anything for him. He kindly said, 'No, but thank you.' Then one of the students asked, 'Would it be alright if we prayed with you?' It was just marvelous."

This moment, like many others, reflected a deeper formation taking place-one rooted in care for the whole person.

"This experience allows students to develop not only clinical skills but also empathy, adaptability, cultural competency, advocacy, and a deeper understanding of health disparities," Dr. Sullivan said. "By building trust and connecting individuals to local health resources, they play an important role in promoting health equity."

For the students, the experience was transformative.

"My experience at Magnificat Houses, especially at St. Joseph Clubhouse, showed me what true community looks like," said student Leslie Gonzales. "It's a place where people aren't defined by their struggles but embraced for who they are. There is a powerful sense of belonging in the way everyone shares meals and spends time together."

Gonzales said what stood out most was the genuine love that is shared between residents, staff and volunteers.

"We arrived as guests but left feeling like family," she said. "St. Joseph Clubhouse was a beautiful reminder that God's love is not distant, but alive in community. Compassion, where true healing happens, begins with being seen and heard."

Graduating senior Peter Tong said the experience reshaped his understanding of nursing.

"The UST Nursing Program emphasizes the art of nursing as being the presence of God amongst the hurting, and I was able to live that out in a special way," Tong said. "In those hours I was serving the homeless, nursing became more than monitors, mechanical ventilators or medications. It became something fundamentally human as I got to meet people in their poverty and witness to their worth as people made in the image of the Triune God."

Tong was a part of that encounter at Dollar General and he honored him by learning his name-Jesse.

"It was here that I was able to live out the love of the Incarnation, that love which I had learned about in my courses and received in prayer and Holy Mass," Tong said. "In serving these people, I got to know them, and one of those encounters - it was a man named Jesse - left quite the impact on both my nursing practice and my person. All in all… this clinical experience is something that has shaped and will likely continue to shape my practice as I go on to pursue a nursing career after I graduate in May."

Graduating senior Alec Ezekiel Paet described a similar transformation.

"I entered the nursing profession with the intention to serve," Paet said. "While my classes at UST taught me the clinical weight of holistic care, I found the heart of that lesson on the streets of Houston."

He said in the streets, nursing took on a different form.

"It looked like preparing peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, walking the streets to hand out food, and sitting still to hear a person's story," he said. "In those moments, I realized that care isn't limited to a hospital bed or a specific pathology. Sometimes, it is as simple and as profound as allowing someone to be seen, heard, and loved."

Dr. Sullivan said the experience also challenged students to confront their own perceptions.

"When we reflected on everything after we got back, the students said that they never imagined that people were in need like this all around us," he said. "The homeless become invisible to us, but they need care and they need someone to see them. Who better to see them than caregivers? It was a good day for our students."

At its core, the initiative reflects the University of St. Thomas' mission to educate students not only as skilled professionals, but as compassionate servants of others.

As Paet prepares to graduate, he said he will remember this as he enters his nursing career.

"Our calling is to find God in the hungry, the thirsty, the stranger, the naked, the sick, and the imprisoned," he said. "The lesson of walking the streets is that He is already there; it is simply up to us to meet Him."