Problems with public health outreach.

Using a case study to illustrate the dilemma, this analysis attempts to offer some possible explanations for the problems with public health outreach by exploring the tendency of society to medicalize the needs of the poor, by highlighting the variation over time in social work's view of work done outside the office and by examining the manner in which individual professionals use discretion when implementing social policy. The implications for social work education involve the recruitment of indigenous workers and the preparation of social work students for the responsibilities and challenges of reaching out to service the poor in need of public health services.