SACRAMENTO COUNTY – The Sacramento County Board of Supervisors have approved, up to $1,137,788 in funding to complete construction on Joshua House, a facility that provides end-of-life comfort care for homeless individuals with terminal illnesses, after being discharged from an acute care hospital. Joshua’s House specifically provides a location for homeless patients across Sacramento to receive home-like hospice services when they, by definition, do not have a home to receive such care and may otherwise be unsheltered at the time of passing.
Joshua’s House provides shelter, food, clothing and certain volunteer comfort services. In addition, YoloCares will provide licensed expert/specialized end-of-life care for individuals and families facing a life-limiting illness. Yolo Cares has provided high-quality hospice care across the six-county region for nearly 50 years. YoloCares also recently became an enhanced Care Management and Community Supports provider through CalAIM.
“Joshua’s House is a natural expression of our community-grounded mission. YoloCares has been a safety-net provider for nearly 50 years,” said Craig Dresang, CEO at YoloCares. “We already routinely provide care and support for unhoused individuals, so we see the addition of Joshua’s House as a normal evolution for our agency.”
Joshua’s House has been a long-standing passion project of Marlene Fitzwater, whose grandson Joshua died on the street, while homeless. In his honor, she has envisioned a place that provides shelter and care to people in the most need at the end of their life. Marlene’s compassion is evident when she talks about the project: “This project has been my passion and motivation ever since I lost my grandson, Josh, who died on the street in Omaha, NE of an overdose. As I learned more about homelessness and the prevalence of it in our community, I knew that all my professional experience had prepared me to do this – to provide shelter, meals, comfort care, love and dignity to the poorest of the poor, and the sickest of the sick – the terminally ill, homeless men and women in our community.”
Anthem Blue Cross is investing $400,000 to support the expansion of Joshua’s House Hospice. The investment will help close a funding gap to bring on additional beds to serve more individuals experiencing homelessness dealing with a terminal illness who need a safe and secure environment.
“Anthem is proud to support and partner with the City and County of Sacramento on expanding the Joshua’s House Hospice program to be able to serve more terminally ill homeless people who do not have the ability to cope with their tragic circumstance in their own home,” said Les Ybarra, President of Anthem Blue Cross CA Medicaid Plan. “Anyone who is facing an end-of-life circumstance deserves the right to be comfortable and safe, regardless of housing status.”
A Service Missing from the System
One of the Board of Supervisors’ priorities is to identify and fill gaps in local and regional homeless programs and services. The opportunity to help Joshua’s House fill its funding shortfall and offer a service not yet available in the Sacramento region was an easy decision. With more than 20 percent of the homeless population aging over 55 and nearly half of those self-reporting a chronic illness, these services are needed more than ever. Furthermore, project proximity to the Parkway made using this particular funding source, granted by the state of California to address the needs of persons exiting homelessness coming off the Parkway, another smart decision.
Joshua’s House is located in Sacramento County’s First Supervisorial District, represented by Supervisor Phil Serna. According to Serna, the Board is proud to make a meaningful and compassionate investment in this program.
“Hospice care is a compassionate and critical element of our healthcare system, yet its availability to those suffering homelessness has been inconsistent at best” said First District Supervisor Phil Serna. He continued saying “Joshua’s House hospice care is the first of its kind not only in Sacramento, but in the entire state, and I’m proud to be associated with its mission and to help bring it to fruition, especially in the district I serve. I challenge anyone to convince me those without shelter deserve something less than what we all deserve: a dignified and compassionate experience, one with commensurate care and comfort nearing the end of our lives.”
The Balance of Parkway Funding
Staff have worked with the Board and other community partners to identify other projects that can provide shelter and housing opportunities for people exiting the Parkway for the remaining approximately $6.9 million in ARP that is unallocated. In addition to the Joshua’s House project, staff recommends an allocation of $1.9 million in ARP funding to support the construction of the Watt Avenue Safe Stay project and to allocate the balance (approximately $3.8 million) to on-going operational needs and/or expansion of ARP shelter programs.
