We are thinking about setting up a hotel voucher program to allow sick patients or patients just discharged from the hospital a few days of quiet bedrest to recover. Do any of you have programs like this? I have a university student who wants to set up such a program and apply for grants. She would love to have some successful programs to model. Thanks. LJ

Lynn:
Good idea for the recovery of homeless individuals that are physically ill. OSN has, in the past, utilized hotels as a quick answer to very cold nights for a few familities or situations that couldn't be addressed without some time in a safe place. The hotel service was generally ok but found that we had problems with patients not wanting to leave, as well as abusing the phone service. For a number of years, we negotiated with a local hotel for the overnight and a breakfast until we can have a case manager address the problem the next night. We are exploring, again, the possibility of leasing beds at an underutilized nursing home for initial respite service. The hotel service for cold night has not been used on a regular basis in the past couple of years since we acquired the management contract for the county severe weather shelters.
I would be interested in reviewing your study.
Linda

We use a voucher system that is partly supported through a city wide grant. As you would expect - there are cases of patients using the hotel/motel inappropriately (most often drug related incidents); but, by and large it is a very effective "bridge" mechanism for stepping down their care. Ideally we would be developing a respite care center or facility - but this is a much bigger discussion and requires a multitude of stakeholders and contributing community organizations.

Because our agency has a housing facility on site - we have developed an internal "respite" program. We have beds available for young adults (under 25 years old) and can place them at the discretion of the provider/physician.

Your student is welcome to connect with our project coordinator - have them contact me for more information.

Great post -

Wayne