Reply to MLK closing--DC General needed more than ever to serve homeless!

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Reply to "MLK closing--DC General needed more than ever to serve homeless!"

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[quote=Anonymous]Every time one of these threads comes up, I want to ask the following questions, so I will just do it:

People commenting on the thread,

1) Have you ever been to DC General? Do you know the area around the shelter? Are you familiar with the grounds, the other stuff that's on them, the condition of all the buildings (not just the old hospital building itself)?

2) Have you ever spent time working in homeless services? Do you understand the complexities of the challenges that many of these individuals are facing? Do you understand how those challenges multiply when you are talking about family homelessness rather than individual homelessness?

I have worked in homeless services in this area for several years. I spend a fair amount of time at DC General, as well as other area shelters and organizations that provide services to homeless people. DC General itself should definitely be renovated and turned into something useful. I would personally support it being turned back into a hospital, as there is a huge gap in hospital emergency coverage in that area, which sits between areas where you can get to WHC easily and areas where you can get to United Medical Center in far southeast easily. That basically means that even if an ambulance gets to your medical emergency off Benning Road, you've still got a 20-40 minute ride to the nearest hospital. Having a hospital where DC General is/was would alleviate this issue.

That said, it's not gonna happen. The redevelopment I've seen has been geared toward revitalizing (or vitalizing, period) the Hill East neighborhood. Bringing back a hospital or creating a complex of homeless services is not going to do that.[/quote]

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