Healthcare
Our special “respite” area meets the needs of guests who are sick.
The respite area allows guests who need it access to bed rest even during the day. Specialized staff assure that guests facing healthcare challenges are linked to the medical and social services they need to move toward a full recovery.
Guests here include patients who:
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Were recently discharged from a hospital and require care they would normally get from a visiting nurse and/or family member at home. This would include individuals recovering from day surgery.
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Are receiving chemotherapy or other treatments that require special medications, access to facilities, bed rest or long recuperation that would normally be provided at home.
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Have been released from an in-patient psychiatric facility but are still adjusting to new medications or lack the coping skills to manage in a traditional shelter.
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Become medically unstable and would have to be transported to the hospital emergency room if supervised respite space were not available. Respite provides a safe alternative where emergency room care is not medically necessary.
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Have common medical conditions such as flu, broken bones, infections and other conditions that would keep an individual with housing at home.
The respite shelter combines a stable living environment, access to medical care and case management support into a package that we believe will dramatically improve health outcomes.
Our Respite Center -- a collaboration with Lawrence + Memorial Hospital and the Visiting Nurse Association of Southeastern CT -- was recognized in June 2016 by the CT Hospital Association. CHA's video tells the story of this groundbreaking partnership.
On the streets, with a broken arm and pneumonia
One of the patients in our Respite Center last winter was a 59-year-old Groton man who had been sleeping outside.
Tom was pushing a shopping cart with all his belongings in it when he passed out and fell near Route 12.
He broke his arm and ended up at Lawrence + Memorial Hospital, where he learned he also had pneumonia.
A social worker told him about us (the hospital helps support the respite program).
"Without this I'd be homeless again," Tom said. "At my age and in my shape I can't do it anymore."
He stayed with us several weeks and the moved into an apartment we helped him find.