The Illumination Foundation's Children and Families Recuperative Care Center in Santa Ana has only be open for six weeks, but the facility is already at capacity.
"We are full and we have another family on the way today," Dr. Pooja Bhalla, chief executive officer of Illumination Foundation said at an official ribbon cutting for the care center on Thursday morning, Dec. 5.
The Orange County-based Illumination Foundation is a nonprofit determined to disrupt the cycle of homelessness by offering multiple services and resources to the unhoused in the the areas of housing and healthcare. The foundation began offering medical respite beds in 2009 for homeless people who were in need of a safe place to rest and recover after being discharged from the emergency room or a hospital stay. The service has since grown to operate seven recuperative care centers with more than 500 beds in Los Angeles, Orange County and Riverside County.
The new Children and Families Recuperative Care Center in Santa Ana extends that service by providing a place for unhoused children and their families with a place to stay while in recovery.
"Here we are able to have families stay in the same room as their child who has medical issues with the goal of getting them into stable housing," said Bhalla.
The center is the Illumination Foundation's newest model of recuperative care and the first of its kind in the nation. The Illumination Foundation partnered with CalOptima Health, an independent health system organized by the county of Orange that provides health insurance to low-income residents, among other services.
CalOptima Health awarded the Illumination Foundation a $3.5-million community grant that aided in establishing the Children and Families Recuperative Care Center as a nonprofit. The funding is part of a $25-million community grant program CalOptima Health has administered for transitional housing the organization received under California's Housing and Homelessness Incentive Program.
Additionally, CalOptima Health's adjusted reimbursement rate will allow the center's programs to be sustainable long term.
"The most innovative thing that is happening out of this the reimbursement structure that has never been done before," said Bhalla.
The new center is made up of two homes that can serve up to six families. On Dec. 5, five families were staying at the facility with one more on the way.
At the Children and Families Recuperative Care Center, each family has its own room along with access to common areas like a living room, kitchen and laundry facilities, making the space feel like a home.
"We also have medical staff here 24/7, and we have a case manager that works with families, getting them connected with resources to help them back on their feet," said Angelica Rios, associate director of family programs at the center.
Rios said the holistic services help ensure the family is stable enough to provide the necessary care to their sick child.
"I like to think of my team as a wraparound service because we want to make sure they are successful once they transition out of our program," said Rios.
Orange County medical facilities can use the Illumination Foundation referral line to connect with the center. One mother currently at the Recuperative Care Center has an 8-year-old son who was experiencing seizures. Children's Hospital of Orange County referred the family to the Illumination Foundation's Santa Ana Navigation Center. Now the child is on medication after being diagnosed with epilepsy. According to the National Child Traumatic Stress Network's Facts of Trauma and Homeless Children, this situation is common, with unhoused kids being twice as likely as those who are housed to need medical attention.
Bhalla hopes the Children and Families Recuperative Care Center will be the first step in getting sick children experiencing homelessness the care they need once they are discharged from a medical care facility.
"For unhoused families living in Orange County with sick children, they need a place finish that antibiotic or treat that infection but they shouldn't be living in a car," Bhalla said. "As I mentioned, we are already full today so we need more places like this."