Hospitalized homeless patients in search of shelter find refuge in Fort Worth
The Salvation Army provides shelter for homeless adults who have been hospitalized through a partnership with JPS Health Network.
Robert Smith was in the hospital with a host of medical problems: His doctors were worried there was cancer on his spleen, and decided to do surgery to remove the organ. But his problems didn’t stop there. Smith was also homeless, and didn’t have any place to go after he was discharged.
“I didn’t know what I was going to do once I got out of the hospital,” Smith said. But Smith found a place to stay at the Salvation Army in Fort Worth, through a recuperative care program run by JPS Health Network that is designed to offer homeless patients a clean, safe environment in which to recover. But the program does more than help homeless patients recover. It also helps keep them from returning to the emergency room, which homeless patients are prone to do because of the myriad health problems they are typically grappling with.
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