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People with terminal illness but no home have very few options. Emergency rooms or ICUs, often a last resort for people on the street, are the most expensive and least effective setting possible. Most hospice agencies deliver care in your home, which works well - if you have one!
From Metro Denver Homeless Initiative:
We know that over 200 unhoused neighbors die alone - each year. Yet, there is no other shelter of this kind in Denver. Current shelters cannot provide access to hospice care and are not equipped to serve the terminally ill and dying. Unhoused individuals with terminal illness are a vastly overlooked segment of our society. Sadly, their option is to die on the street or to seek hospitalization, which can cost up to $7,000 per day. MDHI is a regional leadership body coordinating resources and services, identifying needs, and disseminating evidence-based practices to end homelessness. We fully support Rocky Mountain Refuge (formerly Lazarus Gate) in its mission to provide a safe space for unhoused individuals to receive dignified end of life care and support.
Our mission is to offer dignity to our Denver-area neighbors with terminal illness - who lack the shelter of a home - by providing a stable, appropriate environment for hospice agencies to deliver care.
Every city in America struggles with homelessness and the Denver Metro is no exception. We as a nation are rightly concerned about where people experiencing homelessness are going to live, but are we asking, where do they die?
In 2017 a group of friends met to meet this need. We were founded as Lazarus Gate and received 501(c)3 status in 2019. We updated our name to Rocky Mountain Refuge in 2022.
People experiencing homelessness are at increased risk of chronic diseases and have an average life expectancy of 30 years less than the housed population. These conditions often exacerbate end of life care when a terminal illness is diagnosed.
We provide a cost-efficient alternative to the most expensive end-of-life options – about 10% of what hospitals must charge.
Rocky Mountain Refuge is the only shelter in Colorado that provides a place for people experiencing homelessness to receive end of life care.
We offer shelter for end-of-life care regardless of a person's race, color, religion, gender, gender expression, age, national origin, immigration status, disability, marital status, sexual orientation, or military status.
Organization name
Rocky Mountain Refuge
2019
Tax id (EIN)
83-3159392
Category
Housing & Shelter
Organization Size
Small Organization
Address
6090 Smith Rd Room 102Denver County, CO, US