MESA — Phoenix nonprofit Circle the City is opening a medical respite center in Mesa where homeless people can recover from surgery, trauma and other serious medical problems instead of returning to the streets, ABC15 reported.
The new center near Main Street and Higley Road covers 33,000 square feet and has room for 64 men and 17 women, according to the report. Patients can stay while they heal before returning to life on their own.
Circle the City started 12 years ago with a respite center in midtown Phoenix. CEO Kim Despres said 77% of patients who complete their care leave with a housing plan rather than going back to the streets.
“People who are unhoused, when they’re discharged from the hospital, they have nowhere to go,” Despres said. “This provides them that place to go.” Leaders said the center should also help keep patients out of hospital emergency rooms.
Two patients at the Phoenix center, Yankton Procla and Derrick Moten, told ABC15 the care they received there saved their lives. Both said they are homeless and in recovery from addiction and came to the center for care they could not afford.
“I have a chance at living life again, and that’s what’s important,” Procla said. Moten said of the Mesa expansion, “This foundation is built on solid ground.”
Despres said many homeless patients need a few days before they trust staff, but once they do, they begin to make progress.
Circle the City isn’t the only group expanding health care for homeless people in Mesa. St. Vincent de Paul opened a free medical clinic for homeless people in the city in October, ABC15 reported.
Circle the City will hold a grand opening for the Mesa center on Friday.
Sources: ABC15. Thee Arizona Times uses AI-assisted reporting reviewed against the sources listed.
Photo: Blogotron / CC0 via Wikimedia Commons.
