John

At the end of his walk to work one morning, John was run over by a tractor-trailer making a delivery to his place of employment. He was hit with enough force to fracture his skull and cause bleeding on his brain. The collision was so violent that it ripped the quarter panel on the truck’s driver side completely off. 

John was hospitalized for a month. While he had recovered enough to be released, he had not healed enough to return to the streets. 

Enter the first medical respite program for the homeless in South Carolina. 

Run by Miracle Hill Ministries and New Horizon Family Health Services, the medical respite program provides a place for men too sick to stay in a regular emergency shelter but not sick enough to be in a hospital to continue their recovery. Shelters typically are not medically supported, so patients often don’t get the follow-up care they need to prevent re-hospitalization.

Miracle Hill provided six beds in a separate dorm at its downtown rescue mission, and New Horizon Family Health Services provided a nurse and case manager to provide medical care, coordinate follow-ups, and connect the patient to a primary care physician and community resources. The program opened in January 2019 and saves money by keeping patients from regressing after discharge. 

The medical respite program will soon expand to include women and patients with higher acuity.

As of November 2019, John was in medical respite care for three months as he recovered from his brain injury, an injury to his arm, and vertigo. The program nurse explained his condition to his family, accompanied him to doctor follow-up appointments to make sure all of his questions were asked and answered, and provided tips to help him remember everything.

Sometimes the personal attention given to patients matters as much as the medical care provided. John’s respite care took place because of the special collaboration between two service providers—the kind of coalition work we facilitate through GHA.