First look inside Central Health's new healing center for homeless patients
[ad_1]
AUSTIN (KXAN) — Next week, Central Health will open a newly transformed facility and clinic that will offer temporary housing and medical care for homeless patients.
Central Health will open its new Respite Center next Monday, July 28. The center is located at the Clinical Education Facility, or CEC, formerly the Children’s Hospital of Austin. Medical respite care provides temporary housing and medical care for homeless people who have acute or chronic medical conditions, but don’t require hospitalization.
Central Health invested $11 million to renovate and transform the first floor of the CEC into a 48-bed respite facility for medically vulnerable patients without stable housing, according to its website.
Central Health Respite Center at Clinical Education Center (KXAN Photo/Frank Martinez) Central Health Respite Center at Clinical Education Center (KXAN Photo/Frank Martinez) Central Health Respite Center at Clinical Education Center (KXAN Photo/Frank Martinez) Central Health Respite Center at Clinical Education Center (KXAN Photo/Frank Martinez) Central Health Respite Center at Clinical Education Center (KXAN Photo/Frank Martinez)
The project refurbished an existing facility and “addresses a critical gap” in treating people experiencing homelessness who are recovering from illness or injury, per Central Health’s website.
Features of the new center include:
- Four to six-person pods with separate spaces for men, women, gender-neutral accommodations, and infectious disease isolation;
- Access to behavioral health services;
- Shared showers, restrooms, dining area, lounges, computer stations, and activity spaces; and,
- Model focus on short-term care and long-term solutions.
Central Health President & CEO Dr. Pat Lee wrote on Central Health’s website that the goal was to “give individuals space, time, and stability, not just medical services.”
[ad_2]
Source link
