ROSEVILLE, Calif. — After someone has surgery, doctors provide recovery instructions for at-home care. For those who don't have a home, fully recovering is a difficult task.
Ruben Perez had to stop working due to chronic pain. Without income, he was left to live on the street. When the time came for surgery, The Gathering Inn in Placer County took him into its medical respite program.
"I just never conceived the possibility of me ever having a roof over my head ever again," Perez said.
The program provides short-term respite care to make sure patients are following up with appointments, taking their medication, and recovering in a safe environment. Outside of medical care, the program offers case management, resources, and mental health services.
"We're able to get about 80% of the people that come into that medical respite program into some sort of sustainable housing, which is huge. Only 6% go back into the hospital," said Gathering Inn President and CEO Keith Diederich. "If this medical respite program wasn't there, you would see probably 80% going back into the hospital."
The program serves 80 people each year and Kaiser Permanente Roseville is a partner in its efforts. Kaiser Roseville donated $100,000 to help The Gathering Inn reduce readmission and overuse of emergency room services.
"We never want to discharge a patient that does not have a home to go to the streets. That is only going to have them bounce back to the emergency departments," said Kaiser Permanente Roseville Senior Vice President and Area Manager Kim Menzel.
That donation is a part of a $3.4 million investment Kaiser Permanente is making to expand medical respite programs. It's doing this through a partnership with the National Institute for Medical Respite Care.
Perez found success with the program. He's been unhoused since 2006 and for the first time since then, he's living in permanent housing.
"All I can say is that. I don't know where I'd be. I know where I'd be. I'd be on the street. I'd be literally homeless — I mean on the street — if I didn't have Gathering Inn," Perez said. " When I wake up in my room, I look around and I smile."
Find more about The Gathering Inn HERE.
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