What is medical respite? Medical respite is short-term residential care that offers people experiencing homelessness a safe place to recover while accessing medical care and other supportive services. Seeing this revolving door from homelessness to hospital and back again – and the adverse impact on health status, along with the resulting costs to the healthcare system – medical respite programs were developed to address the gap in transitional care for patients experiencing homelessness.
Why is medical respite important? Without medical respite, people experiencing homelessness have longer hospitalizations, are more likely to spend their first night post-hospitalization living unsheltered and have sub-optimal outcomes due to a lack of appropriate discharge options.
What are the benefits of medical respite?Medical respite admissions decreased time spent in the hospital, emergency department use, and readmission rates, resulting in cost savings for hospitals. Medical respite can improve health-related quality of life and health management. It can also reduce gaps in services and increase connection and use of benefits, outpatient primary care, and mental health care.
Who qualifies for services? Clients must need a place to recuperate after a stay in the hospital, or to avoid an unnecessary hospitalization as a result of living conditions not suitable to recover in.
How does someone access services? Clients must be referred by a healthcare facility in the Mahoning Valley.
How is the program funded?The program will be managed and governed by Catholic Charities Regional Agency and was made possible through the leadership and collaboration of Mercy Health, the Mercy Health Foundation Mahoning Valley, the Sisters of the Humility of Mary, the Ursuline Sisters, and private donors who share a vision of compassionate care for the most vulnerable among us. Other funding to support the program is from grants. For information on donating, please reach out to Kristina Nicholas at knicholas@mercy.com.
Where do guests go after leaving Respite of Hope? During their stay with us, guests work closely with a case manager who helps them remove barriers to homelessness and works with them to achieve sustainable housing. For those few who do end up returning to an unsheltered status, all efforts are made to develop a safety plan.
