Homelessness and Hospitals
In “Halfway Home” (January 2009), your reporter quoted a hearsay account about a homeless man who’d walked to a shelter after allegedly being dropped off at another shelter by a cab, with prescriptions from our hospital in his pocket. The unstated implication was Jefferson Memorial Hospital put him in a cab and dropped him off at a closed shelter in St. Louis. I’d like to set the record straight. First, we would never transport anybody by cab with medical issues; much less a cab all the way from Crystal City to St. Louis. Our transport service takes patients who have no other way home—and if they are homeless, we have an entire department of social workers who work to get them placed. It’s not always easy: Not many beds are available, you have facilities that can’t take certain patients and sometimes the patients refuse all referrals, so it can sometimes take three or four days to place a patient—and we absorb all costs in the meantime.
With regard to the Jefferson Memorial prescriptions in this gentleman’s pocket, the article failed to address why they were not filled. Our hospital, with support from local physicians and the community, maintains a “chaplain’s fund” that helps pay to fill prescriptions and other health expenses for the poor and uninsured. In some cases, the homeless and those with mental illness simply refuse to take their medications or even fill their prescriptions.
Our adult psychiatry department stays very busy, and with the economic times, that is going to get worse. But since my arrival here last year, we have redoubled our efforts, and thus far, we’ve been able to keep our services stable—despite the fact that our number of uninsured patients has risen dramatically, and we don’t receive many of the reimbursements the city receives. But mental health is a much bigger issue than coming to a general hospital for 30 days and thinking the problem is fixed. It’s a worldwide problem. Locally, we absorb as much of that problem as we can and strategically look at ways to heal the future mental health and homeless patients we serve.
Lloyd K. Ford Jr., Ph.D., FACHE
President & CEO
Jefferson Health System &
Jefferson Regional Medical Center
(Formerly Jefferson Memorial Hospital)
Crystal City, Mo.
Loathing the Lists
I came very close to not renewing my subscription to your magazine. I abhor the articles naming the best lawyers, doctors and dentists. Many do not deserve to be named, and ones who do deserve it are omitted. So what if you ask others in that profession? It is all so political. Where do you get off naming these professions?
I renewed because I love the best restaurants article, ones on fashion and several on certain people in St. Louis (for example, the Chet Pleban article).
Sharon Houston
St. Louis
From the Web: Pitted Olive, R.I.P.
“The Pitted Olive was our favorite place. We would go there for every occasion and for no occasion. Often we went simply to be among people we cared about and share a great meal. South City has lost a gem. Like you, however, I can’t wait to find out where Mike and Melissa land. Their kitchen will be nothing short of outstanding.”
—Amy B., commenting on “This One Hurts,” posted December 1, 2008, at Feast, SLM’s food, wine and spirits blog
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