Since President Lyndon B. Johnson made it a national observance in 1963, save your vision month has helped remind Americans about the importance of taking good care of their eyes by scheduling annual eye exams. “For our adult patients, diabetes is the biggest cause of eye problems we see at Mercy Care,” optometrist, James Stewart…
Depression is one of the most common mental illnesses in the United States affecting over 17 million adults each year. It’s even more common among homeless populations impacting approximately 25%. It is well-documented that people with heart disease are more likely to suffer from depression. However, can chronic depression lead to heart disease? According to…
Mercy Care, a community health center and Health Care for the Homeless organization, has two Recuperative Care programs in Atlanta at which patients without a place to safely heal can go when released from the hospital. Thanks to a grant of $37,800 from the CDC Foundation and National Institute for Medical Respite Care, Mercy Care’s…
There is a place down by the MARTA tracks between the MLK and Georgia State stations you don’t want to go. The people who live there call it “the dungeon,” and only the most desperate of Atlanta’s homeless go there. This is where Street Medicine program director Joy Fernandez De Nayan first found Doug. Wheelchair-bound…
Mavis was 65 years old when she received a call; her daughter (and boyfriend) had been arrested. Could Mavis come and take custody of her three grandchildren? Otherwise, they would be separated and placed into Floyd County foster care. Mavis hadn’t seen her grandchildren since they were babies. Now they were all in elementary school…
James Bentley never thought he would end up needing Recuperative Care for men at Gateway Center. In the spring 2019, he was engaged to be married, worked at Home Depot, and was able to see his grandkids at least once a week. Then he had a stroke. “When I had my stroke, I was admitted…
Five years ago, Hortensia Peters didn’t imagine not being able to work again, and relying on her 30-year-old daughter to help provide for her. After a horrific fall in 2016, Hortensia was left with three lost teeth, a cracked skull, cracked jaw, hurt back and without a joint in her elbow. But with her contagious…
“I enjoy working with kids; I enjoy working with older people; and everybody in between. I just like working with people. And when they succeed, I feel like I’ve succeeded too.” – Mercy Care optometrist James Stewart, D.O. A frog, a hug, a dollar store run; little gestures portray a big heart. The hearty laugh…
“Legwork is legwork,” says Torez Askew, a patient at Mercy Care and a recent hire through Shelters to Shutters. Atlanta’s continuum of care offers a major safety net for individuals who find themselves situationally homeless or otherwise needing of aid, but Torez will tell anyone, you must put in the work to fully reap the…
Mercy Care’s Recuperative Care programs for men and women provide a safe, healing place for those experiencing homelessness to stay after discharge from hospitals. For the compromised patients currently sheltering in City of Refuge and Gateway Center dorms, COVID-19 poses a very real threat. As one male resident said to the group: “If anyone catches…
