Award-winning documentary Go to the People lands on Prime, Tubi and other platforms

The documentary Go to the People is now streaming on Amazon Prime, Tubi and other video-on-demand platforms. The film spotlights Dr. Jim Withers and his Pittsburgh street medicine work, showing how care for unsheltered people can start with listening first.

Why it matters: - Go to the People brings wider attention to street medicine, a model of care focused on people living outside the traditional health system. - The film centers on Dr. Jim Withers and Operation Safety Net, one of the nation’s first full-time street medicine programs. - The story highlights a practical health care approach for unsheltered homeless people in Pittsburgh and beyond.

What happened: - Backstory Partners’ award-winning documentary Go to the People is now streaming on Amazon Prime, Tubi and other VOD platforms. - The film was produced, written and directed by award-winning writer and filmmaker Jeff Sewald. - The documentary tells the story of Dr. Jim Withers, founder of Operation Safety Net. - Dr. Withers began providing medical care for Pittsburgh’s unsheltered homeless population in 1992.

The details: - The film follows Dr. Withers’ “street medicine” practice, which provides vital medical treatment to Pittsburgh’s homeless people. - The documentary was inspired by Sewald’s childhood memories of Withers accompanying his father, a family physician, on house calls. - Sewald said Dr. Withers told him he would be changed by making the film, and Sewald said that proved true. - Sewald said he learned that every interaction with homeless people should begin by listening to their concerns and, sometimes, just hearing their stories. - Withers said his work came not from believing people living on the streets needed him, but from his sense that he needed them. - Withers also said his approach was modeled on the house calls he made with his father. - Withers said his father treated every patient as a person first and used visits as a way to connect. - Withers said he has come to see health care and health-care training as a system that can serve its own purposes rather than the needs of people who are ill or suffering. - The film includes the line: “Every homeless person has their story to tell about their journey to the street.” - The release lists streaming options at Streaming on Amazon, Streaming on Prime and Streaming on Tubi.

Between the lines: - The film uses one doctor’s story to make a broader case for care rooted in dignity, trust and basic human contact. - The emphasis on listening first suggests the documentary is aimed as much at changing attitudes toward homelessness as at profiling a medical practice. - The streaming rollout gives the film a bigger audience without requiring a theater release.

What's next: - The documentary is now available for viewers on Amazon Prime, Tubi and other VOD platforms. - Backstory Partners listed Cherry Hepburn and Megan McVey as media contacts for follow-up questions. - The release also identifies Cherry Hepburn as the Backstory Partners contact at +1 818-505-1104.