By Sacha Pfeiffer | Nov. 27, 2012 | WBUR, Boston's NPR news station

Dr. Jim O'Connell with a patients

BOSTON — To understand why Dr. Jim O’Connell is so unlike most other doctors, visit him on a Monday or Wednesday night. You won’t find him at home or at a medical clinic or hospital. He’ll be in a van stockpiled with plastic-wrapped sandwiches, hot chocolate, warm blankets and dry socks. Two evenings a week, he rides around the city distributing these supplies to people who need his help.

And although many of us recoil when we encounter homeless people, O’Connell is drawn to them, laughing and reminiscing and conversing effortlessly with men and women who sleep under bridges and on subway grates.

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