SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH, USA, March 28, 2019 /EINPresswire.com/ -- Utah's Shelter the Homeless received a $1 million donation from Intermountain Healthcare in support of its Home4Change campaign. The campaign is raising funds for three new homeless resource centers as part of the Larry H. and Gail Miller Family Foundation’s $10 million matching grant.

Donations matched by the Miller Family Foundation to date equal more than $4 million. This includes contributions from individuals, businesses, and foundations.

Shelter the Homeless is working with state and local government leaders and key community stakeholders towards replacing the downtown Salt Lake City, Utah community shelter this summer with a network of three smaller homeless resource centers spread across the city. These resource centers are part of a broader change by implementing long term strategies that address the complex issues of homelessness and help individuals achieve self-reliance and housing stabilization.

“Intermountain’s goal of helping people to live the healthiest lives possible extends to everyone,” said Mikelle Moore, senior vice president of community health at Intermountain. “We hope to support community organizations that improve prevention, detection, and management of chronic diseases, including those experiencing homelessness that will be served by the partners of Shelter the Homeless, who are even more vulnerable to these conditions.”

Being homeless, unsurprisingly, is terrible for health. People without a permanent place to live have a life expectancy that is 26 years less than the average American. For some, a health crisis might be the reason that they lose a job and become homeless. Each new resource center will provide not only a safe, warm place to sleep, but a wide range of supportive services including housing assistance, employment training, life skills, food, medical care, storage, counseling, and connections to long-term community support. Centers will be served by a mobile medical clinic, and clients will have on-site access to a nurse manager.

“Housing stability is a key determinant for both physical and mental health. Intermountain’s donation will help facilitate access to health services and improve quality of life to those individuals receiving services in the new resource centers,” said Preston Cochrane, executive director of Shelter the Homeless.

The resource center model focuses on shifting from an isolated impact approach to a broad cross-sector coordination strategy. It’s modeled to support eight primary impact areas that are part of a comprehensive strategy to minimize homelessness including: Housing, Wellness, Employment, Education, Safety, Legal Rights, Community Engagement, and Positive Social Support.

For more information on the resource center model and transition timeline, or to make a donation to the Home4Change campaign, please visit http://www.home4change.org/.

Intermountain Healthcare is a Utah-based not-for-profit system of 23 hospitals, 170 clinics, a Medical Group with some 2,300 employed physicians and advanced care practitioners, a health insurance company called SelectHealth, and other health services. Intermountain is widely recognized as a leader in transforming healthcare through evidence-based best practices, high quality, and sustainable costs. For more information about Intermountain, visit intermountainhealthcare.org.

Daron Cowley
Intermountain Healthcare
801-442-2834
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