We believe that the values of the Sisters of Charity of St. Augustine (CSAs) call for nothing less than excellence for those who need our care, and this necessitates examining the changing needs of those we serve, identifying gaps in care, and developing solutions to ensure our services result in strong outcomes and outsized impact. To this end, we focused our efforts in 2024 on modifying our facilities, evaluating our work, building capacity and planning for the future.
Many individuals and organizations touched the lives of Joseph & Mary’s Home residents this year by providing everything from daily essentials like toiletries, bedding and towels, to warm winter coats and hats. These gifts help us welcome new residents and meet their basic needs. We are also very grateful to all the donors who made Thanksgiving and Christmas extra special.
In its December edition, Catholic Health World, the national newspaper of the Catholic Health Association of the United States, published a cover page article about Joseph & Mary’s Home. The article highlights how Joseph & Mary’s Home provides people experiencing homelessness with medical respite to heal after being discharged by hospitals, plus links to housing to be able to maintain health, stability and long-term wellness.
The recent issue of The Journey, the biannual newsletter of Joseph & Mary’s Home, features a cover article about the renovation of a new space for Joseph’s Home that will be modernized and 100% handicapped accessible, and “A New Home for Healing” fundraising campaign that is helping make it possible. The newsletter also features a donor spotlight on Tom and Diane Tyrrell, a staff spotlight on Paula Stevens, who is the first full-time nurse at Joseph & Mary’s Home, news updates, and more.
Former resident Dawn likes to entertain. That’s one of the reasons she was excited to move into her own apartment after experiencing multiple health issues and homelessness. She was referred to Joseph & Mary’s Home by the Cleveland Sight Center to have a safe place to heal while also adapting to partial vision loss. Having stabilized her health and moved into her apartment, Dawn is taking computer classes through Cleveland Sight Center to get a part-time, home-based job in customer service.
Art therapy can help heal the body and mind by providing a constructive outlet for self-expression. That’s why an art therapy program has always been an important piece of the healing process for residents at Joseph & Mary’s Home – part of caring for the whole person. Mary’s Home resident Janet spent multiple years in and out of shelter. She’s finally in an environment where she is medically healing and now able to plan for her future. She enjoys tapping into her creative side and has been participating in the art therapy program.
The Land, a local nonprofit news organization that reports on Cleveland’s neighborhoods, recently published an article about Joseph & Mary’s Home and the launch of a campaign to raise money to renovate and relocate its facility for men. To support this transformational project, the “A New Home for Healing” Campaign has a goal of raising $2.5 million.
Signal Cleveland published an article today about the work Joseph & Mary's Home does in helping people experiencing homelessness who need a space and time to recover from medical treatment, and how the population served is easy to overlook. “We see people without a lot of choices. Housing for our population is our healthcare,” said Executive Director Beth Graham in the article.
Another layer of the housing crisis: helping homeless in need of respite care
Joseph & Mary’s Home provides temporary housing for people experiencing homelessness who need a space and time to recover from medical treatment.
People experiencing homelessness who need respite care following a hospital stay are easy to overlook. But that’s the population Joseph & Mary’s Home is serving.
Located on the grounds of a former Catholic grade school in the city’s Central neighborhood, Joseph & Mary’s Home provides temporary housing for people who need a space and time to recover. The facility, which has 11 beds for men and 10 beds for women, doesn’t provide medical treatment. It offers a private bed, meals, social work, medical and nursing supervision, and education about their conditions and medications.
“We see people without a lot of choices,” said Beth Graham, executive director of the Joseph & Mary’s Home. “Housing for our population is our healthcare.”
I toured Joseph & Mary’s Home this week because Signal Cleveland is examining many angles of the housing crisis through our ongoing series, the Housing Squeeze.
The average length of stay at the facility is 73 days, Graham said. A big part of the program’s work is trying to find permanent housing for people. Graham admits that finding housing, especially for low-income people, is tough. She noted she is seeing some landlords place larger hurdles, including double deposits, before potential renters as a way to keep some people out.
The population experiencing homelessness is also aging, which adds a new level of complexity to finding housing options.
One of the ministries of the Sisters of Charity of Saint Augustine and the Sisters of Charity Health System, Joseph & Mary’s Home is about to begin construction to relocate and renovate a space for men on the grounds. Though Joseph & Mary’s Home is not adding additional beds, the new space will be fully handicapped accessible and easier to manage for the aging people it serves. With $1.95 million of its $2.5 million goal already in hand, Joseph & Mary’s Home expects to open the new facility next summer.
Joseph & Mary’s Home, Cleveland’s only provider of post-hospital medical respite care for people experiencing homelessness, will begin construction in July to renovate and relocate its facility for men. To support this transformational project, “A New Home for Healing” Campaign has a goal of $2.5 million. To date, a total of $1.95 million has been raised, and Joseph & Mary’s Home is excited to announce a matching gift of $150,000 from the Sisters of Charity of St. Augustine to inspire community support.
People experiencing homelessness who need respite care following a hospital stay are easy to overlook. But that’s the population Joseph & Mary’s Home is serving.