Fiscal Year 2025 Expanded Hours. - Colorado Coalition for the Homeless (CCH) proposes an Expanded Hours Project to serve people experiencing homelessness. As a Health Care for the Homeless provider for nearly 40 years, CCH knows that unsheltered people living on the streets, in encampments and emergency shelters have complex health needs. Since people who are unhoused have constantly changing living situations and unpredictable schedules, CCH delivers integrated health services including medical and behavioral care in a wide range of locations including traditional health center sites, shelter-based health centers and non-traditional settings to minimize access barriers. The organization’s health care service area includes the 7-county Metro Denver region and 6-counties in rural, southeastern Colorado. For this project, CCH will increase hours of operation at two service sites in Metro Denver: 1) 48th Avenue East Shelter Health Center 2) Street Medicine Program based at Stout Street Health Center Extending the hours of operation at these two Metro Denver sites will give people who are unhoused increased and more convenient access to essential integrated health services including primary and behavioral health care. People who are unsheltered have disproportionately high rates of acute and chronic disease and behavioral health conditions. Often, people experiencing homelessness may not seek or obtain care until their illness is advanced and present with more acute, often life-threatening conditions such as cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and organ damage. Receiving primary and behavioral health care at these sites will reduce patient visits to Denver emergency departments and reduce public health care costs. CCH is a Health Center award recipient with active grant award H80CS00040. In 2023, CCH served more than 17,000 patients across 19 HRSA project sites.
