Join Us. Remember. Advocate.

Care of the Homeless Remembers Lost Neighbors


“I couldn’t believe it, when I first heard” CFH Client Leader Raymond West, said of the death of Miguel Durcio, the Bronx man who was attacked while sleeping on the steps of a church, simply because he was homeless. “He was only sleeping on the church steps because he thought he would be safe there.” Mr. Durio is gone but not forgotten- Care for the Homeless will remember his life and honor his memory on December 18th, at 5:30 p.m., on Homeless Persons’ Memorial Day, a national day of memorial for people who tragically passed away while unstably housed. Held with the NYC Rescue Mission at their 90 Lafayette Street location, our Homeless Persons’ Memorial Day program will feature a candle light memorial, a meal for those who are hungry, and a chance for attendees to remember friends on our Memorial Wall.

People experiencing homelessness have terrible health outcomes compared to the housed population, with an age adjusted life expectancy of 30 to 40 years less than the general population. At Care for the Homeless we know people who are homeless not only suffer from a disproportionate number of violent attacks, but that all health problems are made much, much worse while a person doesn’t have a stable place to stay.

“Homelessness is a public health crisis just as much as tuberculosis, polio, and so many other historic epidemics that America has challenged and largely defeated.” CFH Executive Director Bobby Watts has said, “And just as appropriate responses tamed those maladies, we could, if we addressed homelessness and brought adequate responses to bear against it, solve this tragic health epidemic and social failure, too.”

On Homeless Persons’ Memorial Day, we remember New Yorkers who might otherwise not be remembered and advocate for better policy to help prevent and end homelessness. We know we can end modern day homelessness and look forward to the day when there won’t be a need for Homeless Persons’ Memorial Day. Please join us on December 18th to help remember and advocate. The event is free and open to all. If you would like to offer names to be remembered during the program or rsvp to the event, please contact CFH Policy Director, Jeff Foreman, at 212.366.4459 or by email at jforeman@cfhnyc.org.

Homeless Persons' Memorial Day
Thursday, December 18, 2014
5:30 p.m. - 6:30 p.m.

NYC Rescue Mission
90 Lafayette Street (at White Street)
New York, NY 10013
SUBWAY: 4, 6, J, N, R, Z (Canal St)

Click here to rsvp.




Program to feature music, memorial and a meal. 
We invite you to pay tribute to our lost friends 
who experienced homelessness on our "Wall of Memorial." 
Free and open to the public. 

Popular posts from this blog

Join Us on Mon, June 22nd for 2nd Annual Summer Solstice Success Celebration!

Image
Join Care for the Homeless and our Client Leaders on Monday, June 22 nd at 4:30 p.m. in celebrating the health care successes of homeless and formerly homeless New Yorkers. The 2 nd Annual CFH Summer Solstice Success Celebration will feature live entertainment, fun and the opportunity to recognize the successes of our clients and thank the providers who delivery high quality, client centered services every day. “So often people focus on the bad news coming out of the shelter system,” said David Broxton, a formerly homeless cancer survivor and Care for the Homeless client. “We want to put the focus on the successes of New Yorkers who have experienced homelessness - people do get back on their feet with the right services available to them.”   The event, which is free and open to the public, will be held at the dining room and gardens at Red Oak Apartments, 135 W. 106 th Street in Manhattan, on Monday, June 22, at 4:30 p.m. In addition to celebrating health care stories of success
Read more

CFH Executive Director Bobby Watts Responds to Police Homeless Photos on Pix11

Image
Care for the Homeless Executive Director Bobby Watts was featured last night on Pix11 news to talk about an initiative by the Sergeant Benevolent Association to photograph homeless New Yorkers on the street. The officers are posting their pictures to an online Flicker photo album in an attempt to expose a supposed “decrease in quality of life in NYC” but what these pictures really highlight are the difficulties of life on the street. Whatever the politics of the initiative, we know that it’s crucial to find real fixes for the problems of people experiencing homelessness.  “I don’t take a position on the letter or motivation. I really focus on results,” Bobby Watts, executive director of Care for the Homeless, told PIX11 News. “To the extent that more people are aware of homelessness and are determined to find solutions, that can be helpful.” If you see someone in need of services on the street, call 3-1-1 to alert city homeless outreach teams. Click here to watch the full
Read more

Provider Profile Vol. 5 | Dr. Andrea Littleton

Image
Addressing the Whole Person Dr. Littleton with a Patient The streets outside the Care For the Homeless (CFH) Health Center (located at the Living Room/Safe Haven Shelter) rattle with a rhythm that should be familiar to most New Yorkers. Semi-trucks blow by, footsteps patter on the sidewalk, and the nearest park teems with laughing children. Across the street, a Dominican monastery stands as tall and proud as the day it was built in 1891, adding a touch of history to the area. Conversely, the rhythm inside the halls of the shelter and health center are anything but familiar. Located in the Bronx, the Living Room/Safe Haven a is a 24-hour, open access drop-in site, meaning anyone experiencing street homelessness is welcome to come in and spend time off the streets. CFH site partner BronxWorks offers hot meals, showers, laundry, and housing services to compliment the medical services provided by CFH. Despite the similarities it shares with other CFH sites, the Living Ro
Read more

Sophie Cares for the Homeless

Image
This young lady couldn’t stop giggling during her health check-up by Sophie As a Nurse Practitioner, Sophie cares for homeless individuals in New York City in her own special way. She started working at Care for the Homeless only two months after graduating from Yale University with her Master’s Degree in Nursing as a Family Nurse Practitioner. Sophie is originally from Portland, Oregon. She received her bachelor’s from Occidental College in Los Angeles, California in 2013 and moved to New York City in 2014 when she started her studies at Yale. Sophie says her mentors at Yale referred her to Care for the Homeless (CFH), where she now practices medicine at two CFH health centers, one in Queens and the other in the Bronx. She enjoys working at CFH because she is always “learning from [her] patients.” She says coming from Oregon to living in New York and working at CFH, she learned a lot about the challenges the city brings and the “incredible resilience” that is needed to live i
Read more

Reducing Eligibility to Life Saving Services

Image
The current administration has continuously targeted federal benefit programs important to low-income Americans for drastic cuts. A new effort follows suit by proposing a change to how the ‘poverty threshold’ is to be calculated, which will decrease the number of people eligible for important federal benefit programs like the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and Medicaid. This would affect millions of extremely low-income individuals and families. The current measurement called the “consumer price index (CPI)” has been used for a long time to set the annualized increases in the official poverty threshold. The administration is considering using what is known as “the chained CPI”, a different inflation measure that would result in a slower annual increase of inflation over time. “Chained CPI” assumes that as the prices of goods go up, individuals substitute less expensive items, thereby reducing their overall expenses. Why is this important? The proposed change wou
Read more