With winter fast approaching, Sacramento’s largest recuperative care center opened in North Sacramento in late November. The center is for unhoused people who leave hospital settings and still require more recovery time, filling a major gap in services in the region.  

The Community Care Center is for unhoused patients on Medi-Cal who receive medical and behavioral health treatment in a hospital but are discharged back onto the street. It’s the product of a public-private partnership between the city and county of Sacramento, the state, National Healthcare and Housing Advisors, and Basin Street Properties.

Local government leaders and health care providers marked the center’s opening during a press conference at the campus on Dec. 16. 

Sacramento City Councilmember Roger Dickinson represents the district where the center is located, which is on Harvard Street near Arden Way. He said its ability to help those with addiction and behavioral disorders will make a big impact. 

“The need is enormous,” Dickinson told CapRadio at the press conference.“Having services that provide behavioral health assistance to people who are coming off the street is critical to stabilizing them so that they can reintegrate into the mainstream of the community.” 

Statewide nonprofit Whole Person Care Clinic runs the campus, which opened to a limited number of patients Nov. 20. It is equipped with an overnight shelter, medical treatment rooms and common spaces for patients to hang out in. 

Nora Sarte, who oversees operations onsite, told CapRadio the center has served 28 patients so far and has 50 beds. 

“The main purpose of this campus is to provide holistic care for the most vulnerable population,” Sarte said during a tour of the center. 

The campus has a trained medical team onsite, including licensed vocational nurses, EMTs and medical assistants.

“ If you or I were to go to the hospital to receive care and maybe we weren’t in a condition where we needed to be at the hospital still but didn’t have to go to a skilled nursing facility, we would be sent home to recover,” she said. “Somebody who is unhoused doesn’t have that option.”

The campus also serves as a shelter with social workers helping patients find housing.

Christina Rodriguez, a patient who moved in nine days ago, said she’s grateful to have a warm place to sleep during the winter. 

“I’m just grateful and blessed to be here and I don’t have to wander around the streets,” Rodriguez said. “I don’t have to get raped, robed or treated like I’m trash just because I’m looking for a place to sleep.”

Rodriguez added that staff at the Community Care Center provide her with rides to and from dentist appointments.

“I have an infection now so they prescribed antibiotics and then they said once the infection goes down, they can go in there and pull them out,” she said. “Then I get to get implants.”

Rodriguez plans to stay at the center for up to six months through her Medi-Cal insurance plan. Sarte said most patients usually stay the full length their plans allow for. 

Twana James, a formerly unhoused Sacramento resident, lived on the street and along local riverbanks for over two decades. She said a center like this would have made all the difference for her after she was attacked by four pit bulls 10 years ago.

“They ate my legs up and put a big gash in my butt and I had to go back onto the streets. It was horrible,” she added.

After her time in the hospital, James said she felt discarded. 

“ They barely give you the material to take care of yourself,” she said. “I was in the dirt when I shouldn’t have been.”

Officials say the campus aims to make recovery less of a luxury for those who don’t have anywhere to go. Plans call for expanding the center’s beds to 130 by March.

Riley Palmer covers local government and the city of Sacramento at large for CapRadio. CapRadio is a partner of The Intersection and CVJC.