In order to design at our site in west Chicago we had to do a little bit of research on the area. We also started to look into different areas of our proposal versus different proposals that have been proposed for our site. As I have mentioned in past blogs the area of Lawndale is considered a “high economic hardship” area in Chicago. This is also an are in Chicago that has a large homeless population which correlates to the large ED admittance per year. During the first week in class we discussed how some hospitals in the U.S. have decided to add on housing programs. I decided to look a little bit more into what kind of housing was offered at these healthcare facilities and how it was affecting the population they served.
In fact, housing is one of the social determinants of health it doesn’t come as much of a surprise that hospitals and healthcare facilities are picking up housing. According to the American Heath Association there are over 7.72 million households in the U.S. that are worst case housing needs. With these worst case needs comes a lot of health issues. Homeless individuals are prone to chronic diseases such as diabetes, asthma, and mental health issues. From the individuals whom aren’t homeless the rest are facing large housing stresses like the inability to pay rent, overcrowding, or frequent moves. This is making people more sick and since these populations don’t have primary doctors they land up in the ED.
So what has been done in the housing and hospital world? Below are a few quick case studies on how adapting housing into your healthcare program affects the population. The first case study is on Bon Secours Health System in Baltimore Massachusetts. This was a very poor and underprivileged area of the city where crime and poverty had led to most of the area being vacant and many people living on the streets. The hospital was even having a hard time finding workers who wanted to work in this area. They started by providing housing for the elderly and veterans first and due to the success opened up housing to the public. They now own more than 720 affordable housing units with amenities and have experienced a huge drop in the ER stays.
Another hospital, Children’s Mercy Hospital, in Kansas City, MO noticed there was a huge amount of children walking through their ED doors with asthma attacks. They decided to put fourth measures to identify the cause and act upon it. They started a home inspection process that goes into family homes in the service area, inspects them, and assesses them for problem areas like, lead paint, asbestos, and other asthma related issues. They have performed over 750 home assessments and helped over 2,500 families!
The last really interesting housing plan that was incorporated into a healthcare facility was the “Healing Ring” put fourth by St. Joseph Humbolt County Hospital in Fortuna, California. This hospital also noticed that the majority of their ED visits were from homeless individuals. They also noticed that most of the individuals they dealt with were in an odd limbo area of not being sick enough to be admitted into the ED, but also not well enough to be put back out onto the streets. This is when they developed their Care Transition Program. They bought up houses around the area and put beds in them for homeless patients to stay and get back on their feet. The beds could be rented out for up to 2 weeks with the condition that the patients abstain from drugs and alcohol. What did they notice? Also a large reduction in the amount of homeless individuals ending up in their emergency services department.
It was important to research these different situations because our site on the west side of the city has a lot of the same issues that these hospitals have. There isn’t just one way to fix a problem, and these case studies all show how they were able to cater their housing programs to the address the specific needs of their areas. Right now the program for our healthcare campus doesn’t include housing, but I am challenging that idea and thinking about how we can also help decrease the amount of ED visits by providing the people around our site with housing options. Stay tuned for how we combat the issue of homelessness and repetitive visits to the ER in our healthcare campus!
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