HUDSON COUNTY PARTNERS WITH HEALTH PROVIDERS TO A CREATE A
STEPDOWN UNIT FOR RECOVERING COVID-19 HOMELESS PATIENTS
Unit will provide relief to county hospitals so they remain focused on critical care
and homeless shelters to lessen spread of the disease in vulnerable populations
Jersey City, NJ—Hudson County has entered into a partnership with CarePoint
Health and Alliance Community Health, a Federally Qualified Health Care
Provider (FQHP), to create a step-down unit for recovering COVID-19 patients
who are homeless in two currently unoccupied buildings near Christ Hospital in
Jersey City, (169 Palisade Avenue) by the end of this week.

The purpose of the unit is to allow hospitals in Hudson County to discharge
patients who initially tested positive for COVID-19 and were admitted but now
are deemed fit enough for discharge but who are homeless.

Hospitals can only release patients who can demonstrate they have somewhere
to go upon discharge. Having homeless shelters provide this for the recovering
patient now would expose vulnerable populations with chronic health issues in
the shelters to these still recovering individuals who could transmit the virus to
them.

This new unit will help ensure that the health care system remains focused on
critical care and able to provide the beds required for that mission and protect
the shelter network from the spread of the virus.

The target population is homeless individuals demonstrating mild symptoms,
who if they had stable housing would simply be released to recover at home.
The Hudson County Improvement Authority (HCIA) will lease the space from
CarePoint Health to set up what is known as a Federally Qualified Healthcare
Center (FQHC) for the County in partnership with Jersey City-based Alliance
Community Health, Inc., in order to provide this step-down unit for an
anticipated 100 homeless clients at one time.

The HCIA will be reimbursed by the County Division of Welfare at the rate
Welfare pays for shelter services provided by local hotels and motels with funds
provided by the State Department of Family Development during this pandemic.
The initial estimated cost to operate the unit will be $296,000 a month.

The step down unit for the recovering homeless will provide the following
services to these recovering homeless individuals:

1) 24-hour access to clinical care through a staff of doctors and nurses
2) Regular monitoring of inhabitants respiratory function
3) Monitor for potential relapse so a proactive decision can be made to re-admit
a person into the hospital,
4) Medically clear those in the homeless shelter population in isolation so that
they can enter shelters again without concern that they might infect anyone in
the shelter network, staff, volunteers, vulnerable fellow clients.
5) Professional medical laundry and cleaning services, and medical waste
disposal services.

A contractor that provides security at medical facilities in the region will do so
for this new unit.

“I believe this is a sensible way to ensure that our hospitals can focus on
providing critical care and our homeless shelters remain truly safe havens for
those in need of them,” said Hudson County Executive Tom DeGise. “I want to
thank the leadership of CarePoint Health, the City of Jersey City and our
dedicated team from the Hudson County Department of Family Services and the
HCIA who put this together. This unit will help stop the spread of COVID-19. It
will save lives.”