Grace
Hill serves over 8,000 individual
homeless clients annually through the Health Services to the Homeless
program funded in 1987. Services provided included primary health care,
case management and substance abuse counseling. Grace Hill
contracts with three other community health centers, the St. Louis County
Department of Health, and the Salvation Army’s Harbor Light center to
serve over 30 shelters in the city and county.
Accessible
comprehensive medical and dental care is provided through the six
Grace Hill centers and over 10 other clinic sites operated by the
contracting agencies.
Community
health nurses provide nurse triage and case management services to over 30
shelters. Clients needing substance abuse services are referred to the
Salvation Army’s Harbor Light Center for detox services.
Grace
Hill also co-ordinates medical screening sessions in the evenings at the
St. Peter and Paul homeless shelter, and at Harbor Light. These clinics
are staffed by volunteer physicians from the community.
In 2001, nurse/nurse assistant teams had 12,091
encounters with homeless clients. These teams also screened 1,133
homeless clients for tuberculosis and conducted 208
educational sessions with 2,521 participants.
Respite
Care for the Homeless
Grace
Hill expanded its respite program in 2001 with
additional funds received from the Bureau of Primary Health Care. The
Respite Care Program is designed to serve homeless patients released from
hospitals who are still too sick to be out on the streets. Through Respite
Care, Grace Hill is able to provide these patients with bed rest, special
diets and nursing care while they recuperate.
Also with this funding, Grace
Hill was able to contract with the Salvation Army Harbor Light to
provide a total of 14 respite
beds and with Karen Catholic House, a facility providing space for women
and children, with 1-2 beds
depending on availability. Grace
Hill also has a contract with Haven of Grace, which is a shelter
for pregnant homeless women to provide respite care. Grace
Hill is currently working with other local shelters to increase the
number of beds available for women and children. During the year 2001, the
program provided respite care for 212
homeless individuals with
2,060 respite bed days.
Grace
Hill@St. Patrick’s Center
Grace
Hill started a sixth health center at the
St. Patrick Partnership Center. This site was started with an expansion
grant given to Grace Hill through the Bureau of Primary Health Care and a
matching grant received by St. Patrick from the Daughters of Charity.
Through this partnership, Grace Hill is able to provide comprehensive
health care to the homeless, who receive services through St. Patrick, the
majority of whom are mentally ill.
The
Mobile Dental Team
Grace
Hill was able to initiate a Mobile
Dental Team
program
for homeless individuals using a supplemental award from the Bureau of
Primary Health Care in 2001.
Through
this grant, Grace Hill was able to purchase a
customized van and portable dental equipment, including a portable folding
dental chair, portable X-ray unit, portable sterilizer and other supplies.
The
dental team, which consists of a Grace Hill dentist
and a dental assistant serve eight shelters in the city of St. Louis and
St. Charles County, and normally start by 7:00 a.m. before most homeless
residents in the shelter leave for the day.
During those visits, the dental team is able to provide on-site
dental services to shelter residents, many of whom had not been to a
dental facility for the past ten years or even longer.
Services included initial assessment, screening, X-rays, cleaning,
fillings, extractions and follow-up check-ups.
Complicated cases are referred to one
of the two Grace Hill Dental facilities
for further treatment.
The
only requirement for selection of a homeless shelter site, is that a
shelter be wheelchair accessible and have an open space or room with three
to four electrical outlets and a nearby sink for sterilizing and cleaning.
Through
this program, Grace Hill has increased outreach
services to the homeless population, and has been able to provide both
preventive and oral health education to 1,497
homeless patients in the first year of the program.
