After a hospital stay, your doctor may prescribe you plenty of rest to get back to feeling 100 percent. For those without a home or a safe place to recover, something as simple as getting rest can become an immense challenge. This can lead to these patients falling even sicker, being readmitted to the hospital or even dying. Sometimes by providing something as simple as a place to rest, it can all be avoided.
To address this, Providence Regional Medical Center Everett teamed up with the Everett Gospel Mission to set aside eight beds in a special area of the community shelter for patients who have been prescribed bed rest after being discharged from the hospital’s emergency department. In addition to providing the space for needed rest, the program also offers a chance for patients to rehabilitate their lives through connections with the mission’s services and community resources.
Homelessness has emerged as a great need in Snohomish County, with a 2016 community needs assessment estimating there were more than 1,100 homeless men and women across the county. Nearly half of them had no shelter at all. After a homeless patient is treated, the medical center has no choice but to discharge them once they are no longer sick enough to require hospitalization.
The program is in its third year of operation, and it has served 120 homeless men and women, helping them get more than 600 days of prescribed medical rest. Several have then used the resources at the mission to participate in community programs to find stable homes.
Read more about the partnership between Providence Regional Medical Center Everett and the Everett Gospel Mission. (Tim Pfarr)
