PeaceHealth, Unity Care NW, the Opportunity Council and Whatcom County opened this hygiene facility in Bellingham, Washington, recently. It is for people who are homeless. It is called The Way Station.
PeaceHealth and three partners in northwest Washington have opened a health and hygiene facility for people who are homeless. Located in Bellingham and once fully open, The Way Station will offer medical respite beds as well as showers and laundry facilities,
basic medical services, and social service support.
PeaceHealth, Unity Care NW, the Opportunity Council and Whatcom County opened the hygiene facilities earlier this month, and the respite section is to open later this month. The Way Station cost more than $11 million to build. The nonprofit Unity Care
NW community health center raised over $6 million toward that cost; Whatcom County provided $4.5 million; and PeaceHealth, about $400,000.
The 17-bed medical respite section of The Way Station will provide short-term care for people who have been discharged from the hospital, are homeless and need a stable living environment to recover healthfully, according to Unity Care and PeaceHealth
representatives. Nonclinical employees will staff the respite beds. To qualify to stay in the respite beds, individuals must be able to perform activities of daily living, and they must have a condition that is expected to resolve in a short period
of time.
Attendees of an open house for The Way Station tour the laundry area at the site. All laundry facilities are free to people who are homeless.
A separate section of The Way Station has restrooms, four showers, four washers and six dryers that anyone can use at no cost.
According to a press release, the purpose of The Way Station is to honor the dignity of people who are poor and vulnerable by providing them with a clean and safe facility where they can maintain their health and hygiene. Also available at the site are
basic health care services, substance use disorder treatment, and access to case management and social services.
Karla Hall, director of care management for PeaceHealth St. Joseph Medical Center in Bellingham, will assist patients who are homeless and who want to and are qualified to be discharged to medical respite at The Way Station.
Unity Care is operating The Way Station, and PeaceHealth and the Opportunity Council are helping to support the facility's clients. The Opportunity Council is a nonprofit organization that helps people access food, housing, job help and other social services.
To finance operations on an ongoing basis, The Way Station has secured $500,000 in annual funding for at least three years from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. Some private donors and corporations also are helping to fund The Way
Station. PeaceHealth St. Joseph and its foundation are among the contributors.
The Way Station also provides a kitchen area for clients.
Qualified Way Station clients will have their care reimbursed by Medicare and/or Medicaid. Those who are uninsured will get a sliding scale discount on their cost of care.
Additionally, Washington state has voted to provide $300 per night per person toward respite services, but that benefit is not yet available.
Rachel Lucy, director of community health for the Northwest Network of PeaceHealth, said supporting The Way Station aligns with PeaceHealth's core values of respect and social justice, and the facility meets a very critical need in northwest Washington.
"There are few circumstances more morally distressing for our health care workers than knowing that someone they just cared for in the hospital will be returning to life on the streets or unstable housing," she noted.
"In Whatcom County, this is the reality for patients experiencing homelessness following a hospital stay. This was the driving motivator" that brought PeaceHealth and its partners together to establish the new facility, she said.