Center for Respite Care, Inc.

The Center for Respite Care receives referrals from all major area hospitals as well as clinics and shelters that serve the homeless. Our clients work with the Center's medical staff and case managers in the development of their wellness plan and their plan to enable them to enter a safe, stable, and appropriate environment when they are medically ready for discharge. To that end, the Center’s staff maintains relationships with local organizations throughout southeast Ohio and northern Kentucky who are working to end homelessness. The ultimate goal is to have our clients leave the Center with the necessary resources to achieve sustainable independence. The Center is the only agency in the geographic area that provides this service.

Program Goals Fiscal Year 2020-21 April 1, 2020 – March 31, 2021\n1) Admit 130 homeless adults to Medical Recovery\n2) Admit 6 homeless veterans to Medical Recovery\n3) Maintain an average length of stay of 45 days\n4) Strive for an occupancy rate of 80%\n5) Move 80% of clients to appropriate facilities to assist in their transition to self-sufficiency after recovery.\nMeasurable Outcomes Fiscal Year 2020-21 April 1, 2020 – March 31, 2021\nMeasure #1: 65% will not return to homelessness for two years after discharge. \nMeasure #2: 73% who have completed the program will transition to permanent placement. \nMeasure #3: 90% are admitted and will complete a Social Needs Assessment within 48 hours.\nEach client’s medical plan of care, treatment and progress are documented in individual client charts by physician and nursing staff. Social services, discharge plans and progress are documented in client’s charts by the case manager. Key data is entered into the client management information system (VESTA). This program allows us to track client data in an efficient and effective manner. Client charts undergo quality assurance audits, the results of which are reported to the program committee of the Center’s board of directors. Data is measured against goals and reported monthly. Outcome reports are issued to the Center’s Board of Directors at each meeting. Results are also used in proposals, newsletters, Annual Report, and any media where we can communicate community impact.

The Center is a premier medical respite center in the country with outcomes that far exceed those in other cities. Nearly 80% of the clients who complete our medical recovery program are discharged to a suitable environment that meets their needs – family member, apartment, or another recovery program. The Center is unique in the United States because it focuses on healing the entire person through medical care, case management, and support services. While patients are recovering from illness or injury, the case managers work with them to resolve issues that are keeping them homeless. Since its inception in 2003, over 1,800 homeless adults have called the Center home for a short-term basis. All of this underscores our effectiveness as a medical respite facility – and the only one in our region. The center was awarded the Medical Respite Award for Excellence because of our innovative and collaborative approach to treating individuals who are experiencing homelessness resulting in outstanding outcomes.

In 2016, the Board of Directors finalized a robust strategic plan that placed an emphasis on growing the mission in terms of number of people served and meeting homeless adults where they are – figuratively and literally. To that end, the Center launched a successful funding campaign in 2016 to pay for a strategic relocation from Avondale to the newly formed non-profit hub, St. Anthony Center, in Over-the-Rhine. We joined six other partnering agencies in December of 2017. The relocation brought a successful closing to the Center’s board of trustee’s previous three-year plan. With the guidance of an outside facilitator, the board and senior staff recently completed a new three-year plan, ratified at the board’s May 2019 meeting. \n\nSince the COVID-19 global health crisis, the Center for Respite Care has maintained a lowered client census. As required by our state license, two rooms have been set aside for quarantine if and when needed. Client time out in the community has been restricted to only medical related activity. Trainings have been given to clients and staff on best practices of social distancing, hand washing and wearing masks, which have been made available to all. The clients are very compliant with the health and safety protocols that have been put in place. It is quite gratifying to see how supportive they are with each other as we go through this crisis together. Since closing down the Center to visitors, our volunteers and community partners have continued to provide support with food resources, and helping us secure ongoing wish-list items, including medical related items now in scarce supply – exam gloves, hand sanitizer, masks and the like. The daily response to the crisis strengthens these relationships as we move into the future. As we navigate the pandemic, the Center looks forward to strategically increasing our client census and again receiving volunteers and guests. \n\nMoving into the future, the Center for Respite Care seeks to continue to be a partner in alleviating the overall poverty condition in greater Cincinnati through its services, which at their core are educational in nature. It means nothing for our case managers to find suitable housing for our clients now medically ready for discharge if they do not know how to "live" and function in an environment other than the outdoors, i.e., under a bridge, on the street, or on a park bench. We continue to seek out ways to enhance our Medical Recovery to Independence Program on behalf of our clients through learning and leisure programing and the ongoing expansion of relationships with organizations that can provide resources to our clients as they re-engage with the wider community.