Mount Carmel’s Outreach Program was prominently featured in the March 3 edition of the Catholic Times. As the article rightly points out, Mount Carmel’s mission is to “heal body, mind and spirit, to improve the health of our communities,” and the article vividly showed our mission in action.
Reporter Tim Puet and photographer Jack Kustron shadowed the Outreach Mobile Coach as the Outreach staff conducted a weekly clinic with mental health partner Southeast, Inc at Holy Family Soup Kitchen. Mount Carmel Outreach actively sought a mental health partner for their clinics, since so many of the clients had behavioral health issues outside the scope of the basic medical care the Outreach staff provides. Thanks to funding from Mount Carmel Foundation, Outreach is able to partner with Southeast, Inc., to provide a broader scope of services at clinics. The article gives an overview and history of the program, along with the statistics of the 18-month partnership with Southeast, Inc., and follows two Outreach clients, Richard Depew and Chuck Dillon, as they seek care. Both men had heartfelt things to say about their experience with Outreach.
“The people treat you well here. They don’t have to, but they make you feel you’re important to them. I praise God for them every day,” said patient Richard Depew in the article.
Depew is quoted in the article as saying that he is a lifelong resident of the area near Holy Family Church and has been homeless since losing a construction job about a year ago.
“Most people don’t understand that when a person gets homeless, you don’t change. You’re still the same person. I always feel welcome here at the Mount Carmel coach. They help keep me going,” he said in the article.
Click to read the whole article here from the March 3 issue of Catholic Times.
