Circle the City’s mission is to create and deliver innovative healthcare solutions. In 2018, CTC opened its second outpatient clinic, the Downtown Family Health Center, on the campus. The clinic offers primary and preventive healthcare, such as well-check visits, diabetes management, wound care, case management, behavioral health consultation, and referrals to specialists. The clinic is open Monday-Sunday from 8am-5pm. CTC also offers a night clinic inside Central Arizona Shelter Services.
Next door to the outpatient clinic, CTC operates its Downtown Medical Respite Center, a 50-bed facility for patients recovering from a serious injury. Many of these patients are not sick enough to be in the hospital, but too sick to be on the street. Patients receive their own bed, a place to store their belongings, daily medical care, case management, behavioral healthcare, 3 meals a day, and 24/7 nursing support. Respite care offers patients a safe place to rest, heal, and recover. Approximately 70% of respite patients are connected with stable, long-term housing upon discharge. Between respite, outpatient care, and its mobile medical services, CTC anticipates it will serve approximately 8,000 people this year.
Throughout the pandemic, CTC has continued to offer its services uninterrupted. In a successful collaboration with the HSC and the Maricopa County Department of Public Health, CTC has been able to offer widespread COVID testing and vaccinations. To date, approximately 4,500 doses of the vaccine have been administered successfully.
Chief Executive Officer Kim Despres says the hallmark of CTC is to meet people where they are. “We feel very fortunate to have a presence on the campus. We are always working to remove barriers to people receiving the highest quality healthcare, without judgement or bias,” says Despres. “We rely on our campus partners to help us in meeting the needs of our patients, whether it be emergency shelter, food, finding a job, or getting an ID. The successful collaboration of the campus partners proves we can heal homelessness together.”
