News
The best medicine? Having a place to live
Adequate shelter is one of the basic necessities of life — and a key determinant to a person’s health and well being. For people who experience chronic homelessness, especially those who suffer from physical conditions that limit their ability to hold a job or provide for themselves, having a place to live can profoundly improve their health.
Now, several Chicago-area hospitals are using housing as a form of medicine to treat homeless patients who turn to emergency rooms for care and a warm bed. And early results show that this approach is working, not only in improving people’s health but also in bringing down the costs of treating them, as WBEZ recently reported. Read the article.
Did you know?
30% of Chicago’s homeless population suffers from mental illness.
“They help us with food, social services. Nothing but love, that’s how I feel about the Chicago Help Initiative.”
Andre