Title: Are hospitals 'dumping' homeless patients on shelters, service agencies in Sacramento? | The Sacramento Bee
Headings: Are hospitals 'dumping' homeless patients on shelters, service agencies in Sacramento? | The Sacramento Bee
Are hospitals 'dumping' homeless patients on shelters, service agencies in Sacramento? | The Sacramento Bee
Homelessness
‘It was a scary thing.’ Hospital dumps senior at homeless shelter. He’s not the first
By Cynthia Hubert
Comments

Content: She issued a statement saying that Dignity is “committed to providing the basic needs of any patient identified as homeless.” Lewis’ situation is hardly uncommon, said administrators of shelters and other nonprofit groups that serve homeless clients. They refer to the behavior as the “dumping” of patients who are poor or homeless, and said it is occurring with increasing frequency as the Sacramento region’s homelessness crisis deepens. Local hospitals face a common dilemma as they cope with a growing number of homeless patients. Where do they send people who have no permanent address when they are ready to be released from care? Shelters can be an acceptable option, but only if prior arrangements are made for lodging and care, health specialists said. In many cases, shelter plans are never made or fall by the wayside, administrators and others said. “Unfortunately, it happens all the time,” said George Kohrummel, assistant director of Friendship Park, the primary gathering place at Loaves & Fishes, which serves meals and provides a variety of other services to some 700 homeless men and women each weekday. At least once a week, a medical transport van, taxi, Lyft or Uber will drop off a newly discharged hospital patient to the complex, he said. Sometimes, the patients are still in their hospital gowns and slippers, he said.