CCS to seek public support for homeless medical respite center

CCS to seek public support for homeless medical respite center 

By MICHAEL BROWN 

Managing Editor 

Catholic Community Services will be among a group of community sponsors announcing a public phase to raise money for a medical respite center for the homeless in need of a facility to recover from surgeries. 

CCS leaders, Bishop Edward J. Weisenburger and Bishop-emeritus Gerald F. Kicanas will join Rabbi Thomas A. Louchheim, from Tucson Congregation Or Chadash, and St. Joseph Sister Adele O’Sullivan at a press conference at the Tucson Jewish Community Center, 3800 E. River Road, Tucson, on Oct. 30 at 5 p.m. 

Sister O’Sullivan earned her medical degree from the University of Arizona in 1984 and served for several years in the Diocese of Tucson. She began a Maricopa County program called Circle the City, providing medical services to the homeless, in 2008. 

Peg Harmon, chief executive officer of CCS, said Sept. 10 that about $2.3 million in private donations has been raised so far toward the $5.2 million construction costs of the Medical Respite Center for Homeless Men and Women. She hoped that by publicly discussing the new facility, the balance of funding will come in by Spring 2020, with plans to break ground that summer. 

The 15,000-square-foot, two-story building would be on the property adjoining the El Rio Health Center on 22nd Street, near Kino Parkway. The facility will include 45 beds, including two designated for hospice care and nine for women. 

Harmon said organizers are planning to open the facility for business in January or February 2021. 

Discussions began several years ago, when Bishop Kicanas asked Harmon to determine if homeless men and women received sufficient follow-up care after being released from local hospitals. A 32-member community task force was formed that included leaders from area shelters, veterans’ groups, health insurers and various Tucson neighborhoods. The study concluded that nearly 1,500 homeless adults each year failed to receive appropriate follow-up care, sometimes leading to infection and post-surgical problems due to lack of sanitation, clean bedding, wound care and insufficient nutrition. 

Harmon said the model suggested closely follows what Sister O’Sullivan operates in Maricopa County, and more than 90 other similar sites which operate around the country. 

The average length of stay in the Tucson center is expected to be 30-45 days, with about 350 patients a year. Yolanda Greene, executive director of CCS-Tucson, will oversee operations, which will be funded largely through insurance payments from state health insurers Arizona Complete Health, Banner Aetna and United Healthcare. Harmon said that financial models forecast that 80 percent of those receiving care will have Medicaid access through one of those programs. 

As many as 15 percent of the remaining 20 percent of those referred to the facility will qualify for those programs upon admission, Harmon said.

The center will represent a cost savings from the current method of care, which usually involves repeated hospitalizations, she said. Harmon cited the example of a homeless woman coming into a local emergency room with an acute diabetic condition. Once stabilized, she is released with instructions to follow-up to adjust medication and check blood levels. However, the woman typically is living in a shelter or on the streets, and follow-up is unlikely to occur, leading to a more serious acute condition and a return to the emergency room. Besides dealing with a patient with a more serious condition, the hospital will likely have to hold her longer to stabilize her and have difficulty locating a permanent residence where outpatient treatment can be coordinated. 

Harmon said that follow-up services will be provided through the neighboring El Rio Health Center, a 50,000-square foot facility that opened in March 2019. 

She also praised Rabbi Louchheim and other community and religious leaders for partnering with CCS on the respite center. While the facility will include a chapel, it will be multidenominational, not favoring one religion or religious belief in general. 

Patients leaving the facility will be assessed and referred for permanent assisted housing based on a “vulnerability index,” Harmon said. Models predict nearly 85 percent of the respite center’s patients would qualify for housing assistance, she added. 

The center also will accommodate pets, which many homeless adopt and care for, sometimes even better than themselves, Harmon said. “You find this more with older adults.” 

To donate to the construction of the respite center, visit ccs-soaz.org/donate/form and note Respite Center in the Additional Comments box at the bottom of the form.

 to infection and post-surgical problems due to lack of sanitation, clean bedding, wound care and insufficient nutrition. 

Harmon said the model suggested closely follows what Sister O’Sullivan operates in Maricopa County, and more than 90 other similar sites which operate around the country. 

The average length of stay in the Tucson center is expected to be 30-45 days, with about 350 patients a year. Yolanda Greene, executive director of CCS-Tucson, will oversee operations, which will be funded largely through insurance payments from state health insurers Arizona Complete Health, Banner Aetna and United Healthcare. Harmon said that financial models forecast that 80 percent of those receiving care will have Medicaid access through one of those programs. 

As many as 15 percent of the remaining 20 percent of those referred to the facility will qualify for those programs upon admission, Harmon said.

The center will represent a cost savings from the current method of care, which usually involves repeated hospitalizations, she said. Harmon cited the example of a homeless woman coming into a local emergency room with an acute diabetic condition. Once stabilized, she is released with instructions to follow-up to adjust medication and check blood levels. However, the woman typically is living in a shelter or on the streets, and follow-up is unlikely to occur, leading to a more serious acute condition and a return to the emergency room. Besides dealing with a patient with a more serious condition, the hospital will likely have to hold her longer to stabilize her and have difficulty locating a permanent residence where outpatient treatment can be coordinated. 

Harmon said that follow-up services will be provided through the neighboring El Rio Health Center, a 50,000-square foot facility that opened in March 2019. 

She also praised Rabbi Louchheim and other community and religious leaders for partnering with CCS on the respite center. While the facility will include a chapel, it will be multidenominational, not favoring one religion or religious belief in general. 

Patients leaving the facility will be assessed and referred for permanent assisted housing based on a “vulnerability index,” Harmon said. Models predict nearly 85 percent of the respite center’s patients would qualify for housing assistance, she added. 

The center also will accommodate pets, which many homeless adopt and care for, sometimes even better than themselves, Harmon said. “You find this more with older adults.” 

To donate to the construction of the respite center, visit ccs-soaz.org/donate/form and note Respite Center in the Additional Comments box at the bottom of the form.