What changes to Medi-Cal recuperative care mean for Santa Cruz

When the average person is discharged from the hospital, they go home with a friend, family member, or in-home care nurse to support recovery. But what happens when someone experiencing homelessness is discharged from the hospital? That is the role of Housing Matters’ Recuperative Care Center (RCC). For more than a decade, the RCC has provided short-term medical respite to people experiencing homelessness who are recovering from illness or injury. The program grew from a partnership between Housing Matters, the County of Santa Cruz Homeless Persons’ Health Project, and local hospitals and healthcare providers. Today, the RCC remains an important part of our community’s health and homelessness response system. What is recuperative care? It can be tempting to view recuperative care as a specialized program serving relatively few people. In fact, Housing Matters has served 643 community members at the Recuperative Care Center since 2014, amounting to over 65,000 bednights –