Care For the Homeless

Every year, Care for the Homeless serves over 8,000 homeless men, women and children. Last year, your contributions helped us provide critical care to over 3,000 uninsured clients. People experiencing homelessness face several barriers to being insured.   Care for the Homeless provides critical medical, dental and mental health care, regardless of insurance coverage.  Our commitment to providing care to those who need it most is unwavering. More than 35% of our clients are uninsured, and your support helps us serve the most vulnerable.   We're often asked about the clients we serve and how the new Affordable Care Act will help the homeless in NYC and throughout the U.S.  Under the Affordable Care Act, Care for the Homeless is increasing outreach and enrollment efforts.  Medicaid enrollment can be life-changing for homeless individuals and families at risk of long-term homelessness. Hundreds of uninsured homeless New Yorkers received Medicaid...

This July, the Health Education Department promoted disease prevention by outreaching in our shelter sites and surrounding communities. These wellness events, offering health screenings and information, were coordinated with the CFH Social Service and medical teams at our Wards Island and Jamaica Citadel sites. The National Health Care for the Homeless Council states that "adults who experience homelessness die from heart disease at a much higher rate than those in the general population. One study found that men experiencing homelessness, aged 45 to 64, were between 40 and 50 percent more likely to die from heart disease than their counterparts (Lee, 2005)." Teaching clients about disease prevention and preventative measures is a year-round focus for Health Educators. In our medical clinics, the team has even expanded their services to include one-on-one health counseling on chronic disease management, weight management and sexual health. Behavioral health is critical in...

Volunteers team up with CFH Social Services staff to hand out healthy BBQ choices such a turkey hot dogs, turkey burgers and fresh fruit. On Wednesday, July 10th, Care for the Homeless' Social Services, Health Education and Program Evaluation departments joined together with a group of CFH volunteers to have a summer BBQ and wellness event at the  HELP Supportive Employment Center - Wards Island men's shelter. A total of 65 residents participated and most of the men did one or two health screenings as well as learned the value of healthy eating choices.  Case Manager Training Specialist Anisha Perez-Miller organized the event and said, "I can tell that the men felt like they were part of the CFH family. Today, I got so much feedback from both the staff and clients stating what a wonderful event it was. They are requesting another one which proves that we all provided a great service to the clients." This success is being found with our Social Service team...

Case Manager Training Specialist Anisha Perez-Miller and some of the residents of Willow Avenue Family Residence who participated in the Fitness/Wellness  workshop in March. "For the month of March, the social service team was busy once again conducting a series of workshops in honor of Social Work and Social Service Appreciation month, a total of 6 workshops were held at various sites including at Springfield (2 workshops held on Budgeting for your Health- financial planning), Franklin (stress management), Ali Forney (Stress management), Willow (Fitness/Wellness) and Ward’s Island (Creative Art Expression). Social service team members also co-facilitated workshops with Health Education staff in March including a Teen Violence workshop at Willow and a “Let’s Talk About Sex” workshop at Jackson. Finally, the social service team had a total of 247 visits this month among a total of 177 patients.   "I continue to be very proud of my team for their continued exceptional...

The Care for the Homeless Health Education team is always busy, but in February, the team had three large-scale initiatives they implemented at many of our service sites.  Teen Dating Violence and Healthy Relationships Workshops were delivered to: •        Increase understanding of teen dating abuse •        Identify and define roles of abuse •        Identify warning signs of an abusive partner •        Explore reasons why people stay in abusive relationships •        Increase help-seeking behavior among teens involved in abusive dating relationships •        Promote healthier approaches to dating relationships and conflicts •        Help teens understand their rights and responsibilities in a relationship. HIV Awareness Workshop delivered to: •...

January may be a slower month than the busyness of December, but the Care for the Homeless social services team was hard at work providing Medical Case Management services at 13 different sites in a total of 240 visits for 151 homeless clients.  Psychotherapy services where provided at two more sites with 27 homeless clients coming in for a total of 47 visits. In addition, during January, the Social Service staff collaborated with the CFH Health Education team and medical departments to implement pap smear initiative events at six sites. The staff provided a variety of services including PHQ9 screenings, Perceived Stress Scales (PSS) screenings and co-facilitated a workshop with the Health Education team on the barriers to accessing and engaging in medical treatment. Without the Social Services teams, a large sect of the homeless population Care for the Homeless works with would go without mental health counseling and would be unable to access treatment. Their role is critic...

Guanita is one of the 46,000 homeless people, more than 19,000 of them children, who sleep in the city’s shelter system every night – 30% more than only five years ago. But now, Care for the Homeless is helping Guanita find shelter…and hope. After a series of medical setbacks, including multiple surgeries on her foot, Guanita’s medical expenses became too great and she was unable to pay her rent.    She ended up seeking shelter through public assistance, moving from shelter to shelter in New York. After a heart attack forced her into an extended hospital stay and ultimately to Susan’s Place, the 200-bed shelter for medically frail and mentally ill women that Care for the Homeless operates in the Bronx. Guanita was in need of a medically capable facility and the clinic at Susan’s Place was a perfect solution.  “I feel more confident,” Guanita said about being at Susan’s Place. “It’s better having a clinic here. Since I’ve come here, I haven’t had as many ...

In order to earn the Gold Award, the highest award in Girl Scouting, Michaela O’Connell, a sophomore at Croton Harmon High School in Croton, NY, came up with a project to help the residents of Susan's Place.  Her project, entitled  “Housewarming for the Homeless," will equip residents with a box of items to furnish their new apartment when they move into permanent housing. Michaela is a member of Croton Senior Girl Scout Troop 1234 which is part of the Girl Scouts Heart of the Hudson.  Led by Troop Leaders Regina Hertl, Stacey Herron and Susan Vierczhalek, she visited Susan's Place for focus groups with residents to discover what items were needed when they move into their own apartments. Michaela rallied her community to gather the desired household goods. She then recruited residents of Susan's Place to help her sort through sheets, towels, pillows, laundry detergent and kitchen items. The items were packed into a "house warming box," read...

The Job Readiness program at Susan's Place takes homeless health care a step further. By offering a 12-week program to teach skills that will equip residents for obtaining future employment. Care for the Homeless partners with the staff of the New York Public Library’s Grand Concourse Branch (155 E 173 rd St., Bronx), and the Davidson Community Center (2038 Davidson Ave., Bronx) to provide training to program participants. Participants learn adult literacy (reading, writing, and math skills), basic computer skills, job preparation necessities (resume and cover letter writing, interview skills, job searching) and life management skills (strategizing, coping and stress management). Participants also intern at Susan’s Place Monday through Thursday for 12-15 hours per week, Monday-Thursday. Intern positions include Sales Associate at Classic Re-Runs, our non-cash boutique of donated clothes; Dining Hall Assistant, who maintains a clean and organized dining area; a...

--> --> At the HELP Supportive Employment Center on Wards Island, Care for the Homeless Medical Case Manager Anisha Perez-Miller works with homeless men. Most of these men have recently left prison to find themselves alone and without jobs. These men arrive with barely any belongings and are in need of the mental health counseling that Anisha can give them. “I have an open door policy,” Anisha says. “I’m available. I see the men whether they’re coming out of prison or from Bellevue and I give them a needs assessment regarding mental health services. The men usually want psyche evaluations done and I link them up to one of our psychiatrists. I link them up to medical services, help them with their education about Medicaid and do supportive counseling.” As she works with the men, Anisha has found that one way to engage the clients is through distributing toiletries and other personal care items as incentive for coming to meet with her.   “It’s really very simpl...

Be sure to check out Care For the Homeless' Executive Director Bobby Watts on the Huffington Post! He was named "Greatest Person of the Day!" Congrats Bobby! Click HERE to read the article.

We know you love Broadway shows and we know you love helping the homeless. Why not do both at the same time? We are thrilled to announce our partnership with Givenik.com, a website that sells DISCOUNT Broadway and Off-Broadway show tickets. Here's how it works: You go onto the website and pick which show you want to see.  You purchase tickets at a DISCOUNTED price  Care for the Homeless gets 5% of the ticket sale. It's that simple! So make Givenik.com your home for buying show tickets and make sure you go through the Care for the Homeless page to do so.  Click HERE to check out the CFH page on Givenik.com!

On Wednesday July 27, Susan's Place, our shelter in the Bronx for mentally ill and medically frail homeless women, was damaged by a massive water main break on Jerome Avenue. Thankfully, all the residents were safely evacuated to other shelters and Susan's Place is now functioning as the "command center" for all the city agencies that responded to the disaster. The women were evacuated at 6:15 a.m., most in their robes and pajamas. the women need new, or nearly new clothing and shoes (larger sizes are especially needed). Your financial contributions will also help us replace items destroyed in this emergency. Donations of clothing may be left at Care for the Homeless' main office: 30 E. 33rd St., Fifth floor between Park and Madison Avenues. Thank you for your assistance. To DONATE, click HERE .

Working as a Medicaid consultant, Leslie Bell had been to Susan’s Place while doing chart reviews, but it was a chance conversation with Lesley Moody, a Health Educator for CFH, that really showed her what Susan’s Place and CFH was all about. Drawn by wanting to help the women there, she applied for an available position with the agency and after waiting for months, she got the call she had been hoping for. “I just knew I was going to be here. When I got that phone call to come in, I didn’t just come over, I ran over,” she laughs. “It’s a blessing because I’ve always been interested in working with the homeless population.” Leslie’s passion for helping people emerged years earlier, when her sister passed away after a battle with HIV.  She promised her sister she would learn more about HIV and how to help others with the disease. “I was there every step of the way with her,” Leslie said. “I was interested in working with the AIDS population because it hit close to home. Seve...