Medical Respite Insights

Barbara DiPietro is the Director of Policy for NIMRC.

Our goal at the National Institute for Medical Respite Care is to improve health care services and health outcomes for people who are homeless. But the success of medical respite care programs depends on strong public policy support. That’s why NIMRC has a dedicated policy focus that examines how legislative and administrative policies can further promote effective programs, and engages key stakeholders so they better understand how to partner with us in that effort.

Julia Dobbins is the Director of Programs and Services for NIMRC.

Medical respite care is a fairly recent phenomenon, with the earliest programs beginning in the mid-1980s. As the need for medical respite care for people experiencing homelessness has grown, communities have responded by developing their own unique programs using the resources available to them.

Bobby Watts is Director of the NIMRC Initiative and CEO of the National Health Care for the Homeless Council.

For many years, the National Health Care for the Homeless Council has worked to support, promote, improve, and expand the practice of Medical Respite, and the Council is recognized as the undisputed expert on Medical Respite Care. So, many may wonder: Why create the National Institute for Medical Respite Care (NIMRC) now? Here are three of the reasons:

Julia Dobbins is the Director of Programs and Services for NIMRC.

I’ve seen the long term impact a medical respite stay can have on someone’s life. Providing a safe place for people to be when they are sick or hurt is imperative to our collective humanity. Until we eradicate homelessness from this country, NIMRC will be here to ensure that people without homes have a place to heal and recover, and that our communities have the training, resources, and support to build these programs.

Bobby Watts is Director of the NIMRC Initiative and CEO of the National Health Care for the Homeless Council.

I am very excited to be part of the establishment of the National Institute for Medical Respite Care (NIMRC) as a special initiative of the National Health Care for the Homeless Council. The purpose of NIMRC is to improve, promote, and expand the practice of Medical Respite Care (MRC) throughout the country. To accomplish these goals, we will foster and promote strategic partnerships at the national and local level and will provide state-of-the art Training and Technical Assistance, customized consultative services, research, and policy analysis and advocacy. I’d like to address three questions in my first entry for Leading Voices:

• Why Expand Medical Respite Care?
• Why Us?
• and Why Now?