Health Care for the Homeless

Our Health Care for the Homeless (HCH) program works closely with Upstate homeless shelters and other health and human service organizations to improve and promote the health of our communities. We do this by providing and maintaining quality, affordable, compassionate, patient-centered health care.

The Mobile Medical Unit Care Team provides medical care services to individuals experiencing homelessness using a 35-foot mobile medical unit at strategic collaborative partner agency locations throughout thirteen counties of the Upstate. We also participate in the National Health Care for the Homeless Council, Upstate Homeless Coalition and a new network through the SCPHCA.  Counties include Abbeville, Anderson, Cherokee, Edgefield, Greenville, Greenwood, Laurens, McCormick, Oconee, Pickens, Saluda, Spartanburg, and Union

The Health Care for the Homeless program helps to eliminate barriers accessing primary care services for some of the most vulnerable in our community.  The patients of our HCH Program are those that are experiencing homelessness and they are a part of the community and deserve the same access to care as the rest of the community.  The value we bring to those we serve and the community truly exemplifies the true heart and soul of the Community Health Center movement.

The services covered by the HCH Program include:

Access to Enabling Services such as:

  • Prescription Medications
  • Mental Health Services and Substance Abuse Services
  • Limited Specialty Services
  • Dental Services
  • Primary Care
    • Case Management
    • Outreach
    • Health Education
    • Other services that can help provide access to medical care

Medical Respite Care Program

In 2019, NHFHS and Miracle Hill Ministries partnered to open South Carolina’s first-ever in-shelter Medical Respite Care Program to provide medical support to individuals experiencing homelessness who are too sick to stay in a regular shelter but not sick enough to be in a hospital. Located inside the Greenville Rescue Mission, the program offers those experiencing homelessness a safe place to rest, recover and receive medical support after hospital discharge. In 2022, the Medical Respite Care Program was expanded to serve women in the Upstate experiencing homelessness at Miracle Hill Ministries' Shepherd's Gate.