Dean Carpenter was a nurse practitioner at the Neighborhood Service Organization’s Tumani Center in Detroit and the University of Michigan Medical Center in Ann Arbor, MI. Nurse Carpenter received his Family Nurse Practitioner degree from Michigan State University. He had a passion for teaching nursing and medical students since 2001, first as a clinical instructor for Jackson Community College of Nursing and as a clinical preceptor for many nurse programs throughout the state, including Wayne State, Michigan State and the University of Michigan. Nurse Practitioner Carpenter saw the tremendous need of those experiencing homelessness and recognized that even simple interventions could have a huge impact on improving quality of life. His motivation: the gratitude expressed by SMD patients, paraphrasing St. Francis of Assisi, “For it is in giving that we receive”.

“Dean was part of the founding team of Street Medicine Detroit and he has always been an integral and essential part of who we are. He has not only been the primary clinician to many of Detroit’s most vulnerable, but he was also a mentor to hundreds of medical and nursing students. With his quiet and genuine interactions interspersed with quick humor with patients and colleagues alike, he exemplified Street Medicine’s mission of compassionate, high quality care to a population so often neglected by society. He was the essence of openness and hospitality, welcoming excited volunteers from distant hospitals and nurse practitioner schools, local medical schools, and even undergraduate programs. His almost singular desire was to serve people experiencing homelessness.
We would often finish a full morning or afternoon of Street Runs to hear Dean off-handedly mention he would be going back that evening by himself to check in on some patients we missed or deliver some medications we didn’t have with us. We cannot replace his ease with patients or the way they visibly relaxed when they noticed his presence and trustingly shouted, ‘Hey, Nurse Dean.’ This city has truly lost a great soul.”