We invite you to nominate a colleague, a program participant, or yourself for a position on the Health Care for the Homeless Respite Care Providers' Network (RCPN) Steering Committee. The RCPN Steering Committee manages and directs the work of the National Health Care for the Homeless Council as it relates to medical respite care. To accomplish this work, the Committee meets monthly by teleconference and twice annually in person; once in October at the Council headquarters in Nashville, Tennessee, and again in June in conjunction with the National Health Care for the Homeless Conference.

Four Steering Committee positions will be open beginning July 2011. Nominees must be current RCPN members who have been members for at least one year. Serving in this capacity provides opportunities for professional development, collaboration with others involved in medical respite care, and active participation in directing the Council's work at the national level.

How does the nomination process work?

Use the link at the bottom on this email to read more about the nomination process, learn about the roles and responsibilities of RCPN Steering Committee members, and to submit a nomination form. Current members of the RCPN Steering Committee will review nominations and determine the slate of nominees that will be announced at the RCPN pre-conference institute to be held on June 22, 2011, in conjunction with the National HCH Conference.

Nomination Instructions and Form

The deadline for nominations is Friday, February 25, 2011.

For questions, contact Sabrina Edgington at sedgington@nhchc.org  or 615-226-2292. 

Save the date, June 22-25, 2011, for the 2011 National Health Care for the Homeless Conference and Policy Symposium to be held in Washington, DC. A day-long pre-conference institute focusing on medical respite care is scheduled for June 22. This year's pre-conference institute will offer two sessions: Getting Started, for those who are new to medical respite care, and Beyond Basics, for providers seeking more advanced information.  In addition to the pre-conference institute, several workshops focusing on medical respite care will be available during the general conference.  Registration for the conference begins March 14.

On December 14, the National Health Care for the Homeless Council and the 100,000 Homes Campaign hosted a webinar to describe collaborative efforts between medical respite programs in Portland, Oregon, and Boston, Massachusetts, and their local hospital systems. If you missed the call, you can access a recording and the PowerPoint presentations at: http://100khomes.org/resources/Hospital-to-Home-call-series-archive

Homeless patients discharged from Los Angeles-area hospitals will have another place to continue their recovery under a new recuperative care program launched by the Hospital Association of Southern California (HASC) and the National Health Foundation (NHF). The Los Angeles Recuperative Care Program is modeled after the successful Orange County Recuperative Care Program, which has been serving homeless patients since January of last year. West Coast University, one of the largest nursing educators in California, has agreed to donate $50,000 to the new LA program.

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BayCare Health System, in collaboration with Catholic Charities Pinellas Hope, will operate Florida's sixth medical respite program. This newest program, located in Pinellas County, is a response to an objective in the county's 10-Year Plan to End Homelessness to "Implement coordinated discharge planning protocols that will enable discharge planners in hospitals, jails and other institutions to place homeless clients in appropriate housing."

The program will provide recuperative care to homeless persons in the BayCare system who are too medically frail to return to the streets but do not require further hospitalization or skilled nursing facility care.  Ten beds located in casitas will be allocated for this program, with an anticipated average length of stay of 14 days to 6 months. Clients will be provided nursing care through a home health service, medication, case management, housing referral, meals and transportation.

The goals for the program are to decrease the readmission of homeless patients in the BayCare System by 50% and to decrease the length of stay for the homeless patients in the BayCare System by 1 day. 

More about Pinellas County Respite Services for Homeless Patients