Women’s Recuperative Care opens at City of Refuge.

Building upon one of our most effective programs for helping people out of homelessness, Mercy Care has opened a 14-bed, Recuperative Care program for women recovering from a hospital stay at the City of Refuge, located in one of historic West Atlanta’s most struggling neighborhoods.

“We’re creating a supportive and caring environment that helps empower these women,” said Kenya Arnold, social services manager at Mercy Care. “Newly discharged patients experience the Mercy way – where they are a person with a story and history. And we can help them be their best self.”

The only program of its kind in the greater Atlanta area, Mercy Care discharges approximately 70 percent of its Recuperative Care patients to housing or family. Before Mercy Care started Recuperative Care at the Gateway Center in 2010, Atlanta hospitals were challenged with how to avoid discharging the homeless back to the street or to shelters. Rarely well enough to fully recover in such an unstable environment, they often would end up in emergency rooms and readmitted to the hospital.

“I’ve probably referred over 50 men to Recuperative Care at Gateway,” said Chasity Williams, a social worker at Grady. “Patients are homeless, just had surgery, and in deep crisis. They just need time to heal.”

Stacy McGhee was one of the first women referred to Recuperative Care at City of Refuge after a hospital stay at Grady. Stacy has chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and had lost consciousness on the street. A debilitating lung disease, COPD is largely invisible to passers-by but a Good Samaritan called 911.

“I feel like this place is just for me,” Stacy said. “For those who want to get themselves together and take positive steps forward, this is a big help.”

In Recuperative Care, patients typically stay 30 days receiving healthy meals in a clean, safe temporary home where staff assist with facilitating doctors’ appointments, managing prescriptions, and catching potential complications quickly. They also educate and help patients with mental health and addiction issues.

Like Recuperative Care at Gateway, Mercy Care runs a full service clinic on the property at City of Refuge providing not only primary care services but also behavioral health, dental, vision, HIV treatment and a six-month peer support group for women who meet four days a week, five hours a day. The ladies in peer support work on self-care techniques that aid in their recovery such as performing random acts of kindness in the community; volunteering at nursing homes and food banks; learning to eat healthy and exercise; completing art therapy and community gardening classes; and mastering anger and mood management.