This newsletter was sent to our Saint Leonard’s community email subscribers on October 5, 2023. If you would like to receive future news from Saint Leonard’s, join us and subscribe to receive email updates.
At Saint Leonard’s Ministries, we frequently refer to our holistic wrap-around services and care we provide to residents and returning citizens as an important factor in our Community’s successes. A crucial component is ensuring overall physical and mental health.
For many of us, access to health services is readily available. For our residents and those coming out of the carceral system, it’s a much more difficult process. Many residents never received access to physical and mental health supportive services prior to their incarceration, which frequently contributed to their incarceration.
During incarceration, healthcare is typically the bare minimum and, as we hear from our service providers, health issues are “not treated to the fullest extent of treatment guidelines.” Along with lack of support for substance-use issues, undignified living conditions and isolation from others, residents face myriad health obstacles while incarcerated and when released.
Our healthcare partners educate residents on how to get a prescription filled, the benefits of mental health therapy, and what blood pressure numbers mean. Each resident will have different needs and experiences, and the healthcare team considers an individual’s specific needs when creating short- and long-term treatment plans.
Saint Leonard’s integrated team of healthcare professionals is on campus to educate and empower people to take control of their health. Our incredible healthcare partners include RUSH University College of Nursing, Adler University and Healthcare Alternative Systems Community Counseling and Treatment (HAS).
Saint Leonard’s integrated care is built on the foundation of care coordination. A participant’s care team can include any, or all, of the following: a case manager, RUSH medical care team, Adler University mental health team, Healthcare Alternative Systems substance-use team, and workforce instructors. To ensure participants receive holistic care, coordination is necessary; members of the team meet weekly to discuss care plans. New and current residents’ care plans are monitored and modified as needed to ensure participant needs do not go unaddressed.
Our care does not end when a resident becomes a program alumni. We encourage continuing dialogue and long-term support for alumni so their dreams become reality. That’s what we mean when we say, “One Saint Leonard’s for Life!”
