The typical scenario goes something like this: After a procedure in an Albuquerque hospital, a family member or friend picks you up for a ride home to begin your recovery. While you were gone, your pets were cared for and someone made you a pot of soup that’s ready to be heated up. Life starts to return to normal. But the scenario is a foreign one to those living on the streets.
Their most common experience is this: A medical need means going to an emergency room — often at University of New Mexico Hospital (UNMH) — to receive care and then exit back to the street. It’s a costly situation that very often results in return visits, because trying to heal when you’re homeless and in unsafe environments rarely works.
“Too often those patients return to us after we discharge them, for preventable reasons,” Kate Becker, CEO of UNMH, said. “Maybe a suture became infected while they were on the streets; they became sick again because they didn’t have a safe place to continue to recover after a procedure or surgery. Hospitals are not set up to be respite centers.”…