Saturday, December 21, 2024
12/21/2024
The mission of Circle the City (CTC) is to create and deliver innovative healthcare solutions that compassionately address the needs of all individuals facing homelessness in Maricopa County, Arizona. Founded in 2008, we served 9,000 individuals last year. As the only Federally Qualified Healthcare Center in Maricopa County that focuses solely on serving individuals experiencing homelessness, Circle the City (CTC) seeks a portion of the funding needed to build a $24 million, 84-bed medical respite facility in Mesa, AZ that replicates an existing, successful program in Phoenix. Patients stabilized enough to require discharge from hospitalization that still require significant medical care can be discharged to this step-down facility, both allowing for critical medical care and healing without discharge to the street and providing additional time to find housing solutions. Individuals facing homelessness have significant healthcare needs. They live on the streets with acute medical conditions and use hospitals at higher rates for longer periods than housed individuals. Unhoused individuals present a challenge to hospital discharge planners as they often struggle to find safe and appropriate venues for homeless patients to rest, recuperate, and receive follow-up services after they no longer need acute hospital care. This often results in hospital readmissions that cost taxpayers millions of dollars each year. CTC’s East Valley Medical Respite Center (EVMRC) is akin to a skilled nursing facility where all patients are directly referred from hospitals or other collaborating entities. Since 2012, CTC’s data shows that not only does medical respite offer patients the integrated medical services needed to heal, but case managers also facilitate transition to permanent housing, transitional housing, family, or specialty programs that don’t require discharge to the street. The EVMRC project will provide a number of unique benefits to individuals fac ing homelessness and the Mesa community at large: • Provides patients with a safe place to rest, a clean place to recover, nutritious food, clean water, secure storage for medications, the overall ability to comply with hospital discharge instructions, and access to supportive services that assist in completing recovery. • This service does not currently exist in the East Valley and is being embraced as part of a larger solution to treating homelessness in Mesa. • Takes the onus for care away from emergency rooms/emergency departments, as well as emergency shelters that cannot provide the medical care necessary for patient recovery. • Helps prevent unnecessary and costly emergency room utilization and hospital admissions, which provides a significant benefit to taxpayers and local municipalities. In a March 2021 “Update on the Evidence for Medical Respite Care” by the National Institute for Medical Respite Care, data from other research studies demonstrated that hospital admissions decreased by 37%, inpatient days decreased by 70%, and 30-day hospital readmission rate for persons experiencing homelessness reduced by 50.8%. • The East Valley hospital and health care systems, along with multiple community first responders, will experience less utilization of emergency calls to assist homeless citizens experiencing health care emergencies. • Approximately 70% of CTC’s current medical respite patients that complete their treatment care plan are discharged to housing, family or other programs, rather than the street. • According to census tract data, the area surrounding the location has a family income of less than 70% of area median income and is in a Food Desert. For the local community, the project also: a. Delivers approximately 120 high-paying jobs, including physicians, nurses, physical therapists, case managers, and a host of support staff. b. Adds over $13 million of annual local spending, including $8.8 million in wages & employee benefits.
HHS’ Tracking Accountability in Government Grants System (TAGGS) website provides access to detailed descriptions of grants, loans, aggregated direct payments and other types of financial assistance awarded by the HHS Operating Divisions (OPDIVs) and the Office of the Secretary Staff Divisions (STAFFDIVs).