FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — There is now a designated place for people experiencing homelessness to go if they're discharged from the hospital and have nowhere safe to go. As a part of its A Place to Heal program, New Beginnings now has medical respite cabins on its campus.
"We have electricity, which people living in a tent don't have," Director of Healthcare Janet Gardner said. "If you need to plug in, for instance, an oxygen concentrator, then you can do that. We have a refrigerator if you need to refrigerate your insulin or refrigerate antibiotics that you are receiving."
In April, New Beginnings had a soft opening for A Place to Heal with just one existing cabin. Gardner said 12 people in need of respite care have stayed in the cabins since its opening. At this time, they have two people in respite care.
On the New Beginnings campus, there are five cabins — three for respite patients, one for office space, and another used as a bathroom.
"We purposely are leaving one, big, open space so that people could walk or do some strengthening exercises," Gardner said. "We're going to have a healing garden, which is pretty cool, too. A place that people can just relax and breathe deep and enjoy their space."
One of those patients was Neil Arnold. For many years, Arnold was homeless and living in the Salvation Army. He was in and out of the hospital multiple times and learned he had chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), which required him to use an oxygen tank.
"If it wasn't for these people, I'd probably, being honest with you, probably be dead by now," Arnold said. "Thank God for them, I'm not."
Gardner said Arnold was weak when he came to A Place to Heal.
"We worked on building his stamina," Gardner said. "He got used to using the portable oxygen, so now he can go pretty much wherever he wants to go on his walks."
How long someone stays at the respite cabins really depends on the patient's treatment plan.
"We had someone stay for a weekend because all he needed was a weekend to rest," Gardner said. "We've had people that have been here for about 60 to 70 days, so it really is very individualized. It's based on working towards these health-related goals. And once that is complete, then your stay is done."
Arnold advised those waiting for proper healthcare despite not having a roof over their head to not give up.
"I have given up before but something told me, Don't give up, Neil. Wait, it'll turn around.' And it has," Arnold said.
New Beginnings partners with local hospitals like Washington Regional to get referrals. The hospital sends people who don't have somewhere to safely recover after leaving the hospital.
Garner said their reach is expanding outside of Fayetteville. For example, they received a referral from someone in Gravette this week.
"We are already expanding outside of Fayetteville and into all of Northwest Arkansas," Gardner said.
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