MESA, AZ — A Phoenix nonprofit is opening a medical respite center in Mesa where homeless people can recover from surgery, trauma and other serious medical problems instead of going back to the streets.
Circle the City’s new center near Main Street and Higley Road covers 33,000 square feet and has room for 64 men and 17 women. Patients can stay there while they heal before returning to life on their own.
“The outside world is rough,” said Yankton Procla, a patient at the organization’s Phoenix respite center.
Circle the City got its start 12 years ago at that center in midtown Phoenix. Procla and another patient, Derrick Moten, said the care they received there saved their lives. Both men said they are homeless, both are in recovery from addiction and both came to the center for medical care they could not afford.
“I owe this place more than they think I do,” Procla said. “I have a chance at living life again, and that’s what’s important.”
Moten said he feels safe at the center and sees promise in the Mesa expansion.
“They’ve got huge benefits and resources coming to them (in Mesa),” Moten said. “This foundation is built on solid ground.”
Circle the City leaders said the Mesa center should help keep patients out of hospital emergency rooms. CEO Kim Despres said 77% of patients who complete their care leave with a housing plan rather than returning to the streets.
“People who are unhoused, when they’re discharged from the hospital, they have nowhere to go,” Despres said. “This provides them that place to go.”
Despres said many homeless patients need a few days before they trust staff members at respite centers, but once they do, they start to make progress.
Circle the City isn’t the only organization expanding health care for homeless people in Mesa. In October, St. Vincent de Paul opened a free medical clinic for homeless people in the city.
Circle the City will hold a grand opening for the Mesa center Friday.
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