On October 10th, Central City Concern (CCC) will begin transporting Recuperative Care Program (RCP) participants from the Blackburn Center to their new Evergreen Crossing facility at 8225 NE Wasco Street. Earlier this year, CCC bought the former Comfort Inn to expand its ability to provide ongoing medical and housing support for people recently discharged from the hospital but needing continuing care. Last month, Evergreen Crossing staff invited people to see how a three-story hotel transformed into a medical recovery site.
Resident transfer to the new facility will take place in one day using taxis to carry people between buildings. An expected 45 people will move to this newly updated space with their possessions. Over the last few months, crews removed carpet throughout the building, leaving just the entry room’s flooring as it was. The floors now have easy-to-clean hard surfaces, more fitting a medical environment. Locksmiths installed electric latches operated by keycard readers mounted on the wall. The onsite manager’s apartment provided the ample platform to become an onsite clinic providing primary care within two exam rooms. Staff converted the apartment’s kitchen into a modest lab space, and the living room serves as a reception area.
During the search for a new building, CCC staff were impressed with this Comfort Inn’s amenities and condition. It has onsite commercial laundry facilities with double the equipment seen in similarly sized buildings and a large communal dining area. The multi-story building also had an elevator to assist the predominantly mobility-impaired guests. The program will reuse much of the hotel’s furniture in the rooms, with the exception of the couches and beds. For over four decades, the organization worked towards ending homelessness. During that work, they developed their own bed design that uses a welded metal frame and easily sanitized sleeping mat. The couches were part of larger rooms labeled suites. Those expanded spaces with small divider walls will become double occupancy rooms when the program scales up.
Some elements of the hotel will not work for the RCP, and CCC will need to perform future renovations to address those issues. The building came with an indoor swimming pool that they will need to decommission. Most residents are newly released from the hospital with conditions that would not mix well with chlorinated water. That large pool room could become space for visiting medical providers to perform onsite treatments for patients unable to travel easily. The facility also lacks a full kitchen capable of cooking meals. At first, residents will receive a dinner prepared offsite and brought into the facility. In the future, CCC will build out the existing food prep room to accommodate a commercial kitchen and create meals onsite. The Evergreen Crossing staff also intend to install gates around the parking structure to create a secure environment for residents enjoying the courtyard.
CCC expects residents to be self-sufficient and somewhat autonomous within their rooms. Each room has a mini-refrigerator and microwave for breakfast and lunchtime meals. Guests must be able to use the restroom independently and get into and out of a seated position without assistance. Staff will be available around the clock on each floor to assist within reason, but current training levels will only allow them to provide certain levels of care. That could change as they increase staffing levels over time. With 66 available rooms, some of which enable double occupancy, they anticipate housing a maximum of 90 people. Still, they will always attempt to run at 90% usage to allow for emergency placements or delayed checkouts.
Montavilla residents and the thousands of vehicles rushing past this building will likely be oblivious to this hotel’s transformation into a recuperative care site. People are only placed into the program through medical referral, and visitors are not allowed, keeping site activity at a minimum. CCC does offer walk-in medical services, but not at this facility. People seeking that assistance can visit the Blackburn Center at 12121 E Burnside Street.
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