Shelter Health Services

 Our Mission

Our mission is to remove health issues as barriers to self-sufficiency for homeless women, and as impediments to development for homeless children, by providing free healthcare and health education to homeless women and children in Mecklenburg County, that is easily accessible. Becoming self-sufficient by finding a job, affordable housing and becoming a part of the community is the most effective way out of homelessness. But unattended health issues can cause and will prolong homelessness.

Our collaborative partnership with the Salvation Army Center of Hope, Charlotte's largest shelter for women and children puts us in a very unique position to make a significant positive impact. The free clinic is embedded within the shelter. Most shelter residents do not have any money. Few have Medicaid. Most have unattended health issues.

Without the free clinic their conditions would progressively get worse. Or they would call 911 and go to the Emergency Room with health issues that are not emergencies. As a result they do not receive the care that is truly needed. For example, chronic diseases of hypertension and diabetes require regular follow-up and monitoring. An ER is not the place to receive this kind of continuous care. And nonemergency visits take up valuable hospital system time and resources. An estimated $800,000 annually is saved in unrecoverable ER costs due to the presence of the clinic within the shelter. The homeless women and children of the Center of Hope shelter truly rely on the free clinic for their healthcare.