Gothamist, June 24, 2024, ER Visits Plummet At Housing Program For Vulnerable New Yorkers After Nurses Are Hired
In 2015, a nonprofit that helps house hundreds of New Yorkers who have a mental illness or are homeless began hiring nurses to handle non-emergency and preventative care. As a result, avoidable visits to hospital emergency rooms have fallen by half, the organization says.
Housing experts say Urban Pathways’ investment in on-site health care is a novel approach they hope can become a model for other programs that provide housing and services to residents who often lack a primary care doctor and are driven to rely on hospital emergency rooms for basic care and treatment, including for things like stomach aches and nausea.
