Medical Respite Centre
Introducing the Medical Respite Centre and StayWitch’s.
With generous philanthropic support, Homeless Healthcare secured the old backpacker accommodation in Northbridge known as the Witch’s Hat. We have transformed the accommodation into a short stay facility for homeless people who have been discharged from hospital but require support and health services.
Two services operate within the building. A Medical Respite Centre funded by the Department of Health which provides 20 medical beds and “StayWitch’s” funded philanthropically which provides 10 non-medical beds. Residents can stay for a period of up to 14 days in either service.
This is the first post-hospital discharge facility of its kind in WA. Admission to the residence is by hospital referral only.
Time spent in such a respite environment can be a critical turning point for many people, by:
providing a safe space for people to recoup, sleep, eat nutritionally and escape the daily ‘fight or flight’ mode of living on the street;
enable support workers to connect people to housing and accommodation and other community supports; and
provide therapeutic activities and opportunities to develop skills for independent living to support people to transition out of homelessness.
Why a Medical Respite Centre?
Modern hospital care has changed. With initiatives such as hospital-in-the-home, people tend to be discharged from hospital much earlier than they have in the past and hospital stays now tend to be much shorter. In order to cut costs, patients are often discharged from hospital when they no longer require a hospital bed but are too sick to survive on the street. Unfortunately, without a home to stay in, homeless people cannot access the services that enable shorter stays in hospital resulting in high rates of unplanned readmission.
As an alternative to these expensive hospital stays, in October 2021 Homeless Healthcare commenced operation of a Medical Respite Centre.
This service allows people experiencing homelessness to have their health needs addressed when they do not require the full services of a hospital but are not yet well enough for life on the streets. Several US studies have shown that Medical Respite Centres are responsible for substantial reductions in hospitalisations and hospital readmissions.
The service is a pilot project funded by the East Metropolitan Health Service.
MRC First Year Evaluation
Why StayWitch’s?
StayWitch’s fills a critical void, harnessing the window of opportunity after a hospital presentation to provide people with a supportive restorative environment, and ‘buying time’ to connect them to housing and support services, whilst also empowering and equipping them with enhanced skills for independent living. Previously, people were often discharged from hospital to substandard backpacker hostels, only to return to hospital a few days later.
We believe that a homely environment with therapeutic and wellbeing activities and supports embedded, is critical. It is the ‘small things’ that restore a sense of self-worth, hope, trust, and a vision of a future life where one is no longer homeless. Small things like pottering in a garden, chatting with someone while preparing a meal, mastering how to log in to a computer, chatting to someone who has a lived experience of what you have been through – many of us take such things for granted, but these small things are the turning point for many people, paving a future that is no longer defined by ‘homelessness’.
Life Skills and Well-Being at StayWitch’s
LotteryWest has generously sponsored a Life Skills and Well-being program within StayWitch’s which includes:
Peer support workers to provide empathy, advocacy, and strengths-based support, stemming from a blend of lived experience and specialised knowledge relating to mental health, addiction and homelessness.
Kitchen garden and nutrition to support recovery and meaningful use of time. Improving health through not only the provision of healthy food, but an increased understanding and re-connection to food, both its growing, cooking and communal sharing.
Movement and exercise. Introducing residents to exercise and healthy living as appropriate to their respective circumstances.
Computer literacy, financial counselling, assistance with obtaining personal documentation programs. A dedicated visiting services room has been set up to assist implementation of these programs, coordinated through the PSW.
Art Therapy. Used as a medium for client engagement and activities will range from craftwork, painting and mindfulness colouring in.
