In communities throughout the country, innovative health care agencies are providing temporary housing and cost-effective medical care for homeless people who are too ill to remain on the streets, but not ill enough to be in a hospital. These providers offer services in many ways, from shelter-based programs to free-standing facilities. Other cities provide their services through apartment-based models, nursing facility models, and more. They all share at least one commonality: a passionate commitment to meeting the needs of homeless people who are ill.
Mission Statement: The Respite Care Providers' Network (RCPN) seeks to improve the health status of individuals who are homeless by support of programs that provide medical respite and related services.
• Introduction to Respite
• Respite Programs and Providers
• Respite Program Policies and Tools
• Suggested Readings and Advocacy Resources
• Research and Evaluation
• Join
• Contact Us
• Respite News
• Photographs
INTRODUCTION TO RESPITE
RESPITE PROGRAMS AND PROVIDERS
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Current Respite Programs on US Map |
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RESPITE PROGRAM POLICIES AND TOOLS |
Ted Amann, MPH,
RN |
Central City Concern | Portland, Oregon |
2008 Respite Pre-Conference Institute |
This section includes a carefully selected sampling of respite-specific policies and procedures, and programmatic forms which you are welcome to use and adapt to your own needs. These are organized into the following broad categories: policies and procedures; referral/screening forms; intake/admission; forms used during stay; and miscellaneous. All of the documents are either in Adobe or Microsoft Word formats. If you have any questions or suggestions about these tools, or if you are willing to share some from your own respite program, please contact Sabrina Edgington at sedgington@nhchc.org.
Click here to access Respite Program Policies and Tools.
Additional policies and clinical tools, including those more general to homeless health care provision, are in the Clinical Practice Resources section of our website. |
SUGGESTED READINGS AND ADVOCACY RESOURCES
- Caring for the Homeless in our Communities: Post-Hospital Transition of Homeless Patients. This publication summarizes findings from a series of regional meetings held to encourage community dialogue regarding the post-hospital transition of homeless patients. The report identifies best practices and outlines opportunities to improve the hospital discharge of homeless patients. Medical respite care emerged as both the most significant gap and the most promising opportunity to improve services. The report finds that legislation, funding and technical assistance in creating respite centers would improve homeless residents' health care. Communities participating in the meetings report that case management services for homeless people are highly successful, and the report recommends more case management work with homeless patients. Hospital Council of Northern & Central California. December 2007.
- Case Report: Medical Respite Care for People without Stable Housing
- "Hospital Discharge of Homeless Persons in Chicago" (PowerPoint presentation by Arturo Bendixen at NAEH Conference, June 2006)
- Hospital Resources: A Practical Treatment Plan for Homeless Patients, Virtual Mentor. January 2009, Volume 11, Number 1.
- Medicaid Funding for Respite (PowerPoint presentation by David Buchanan, MD at Respite Conference, 2005)
- Memorandum of Understanding between hospital and respite program (Sample)
- "Strange Bedfellows" (PowerPoint presentation on Hospital Discharge Planning by Jim O'Connell, MD, at NAEH Conference, June 2006)
- Treating the homeless can go beyond medical care, March 2, 2009. The American Medical News Ethics Forum answers the question, "What duties does a doctor have to a homeless patient who repeatedly visits the ED?" The author provides a case scenario and describes medical respite programs as a humane approach to caring for homeless patients.
- Refusal of Emergency Care and Patient Dumping, Virtual Mentor. January 2009, Volume 11, Number 1.
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RESEARCH AND EVALUATION
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JOIN US
 The Respite Care Providers’ Network operates as a Standing Committee of the National Health Care for the Homeless Council. We invite your participation at the following levels:
- Join the RCPN. Membership is free. Members receive the quarterly respite e-newsletter, Respite News, elect RCPN leadership, and become individual members of the National Health Care for the Homeless Council. To join, complete the RCPN Membership Application.
- List your program in the Respite Program Directory. Complete the Respite Care Program Directory Form and send as instructed.
- Become an Organizational Member of the National Health Care for the Homeless Council.
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CONTACT US!
If you have any questions or comments about medical respite, or about the Respite Care Providers' Network, please do not hesitate to contact the RCPN Coordinator, Sabrina Edgington at sedgington@nhchc.org or phone: 615-226-2292.
Contact information for the current members of the RCPN Steering Committee is also available for your convenience here.
Publication of this web page is made possible by a grant from the Health Services and Resources Administration (HRSA). The views expressed herein do not necessarily reflect the views of HRSA.
Click here for photos from the October 2008 Steering Committee meeting
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