Dr. Srinivas Merugu Believes in Medical Respite at Joseph & Mary’s Home
Medical respite is an essential part of the continuum of care for those experiencing homelessness. No less essential, said Dr. Srinivas Merugu, than infrastructure. “Just like electricity or internet, we need medical respite services. The dignity that is restored to residents’ lives that may have been lacking, it is so important.”
This strong belief in medical respite is why Dr. Merugu is a long-time Joseph & Mary’s Home annual fund donor, as well as a sponsor of a resident room in the new Joseph’s Home. “I filled the role I could,” he said.
As both a medical professional and systems-level thinker, Dr. Merugu believes what Joseph & Mary’s Home provides is critical and indispensable. “This type of care is never going to go away and is grossly underfunded,” he said. “Yes, you need to address homelessness, hospital care and affordable housing. But we need to ensure the presence of community-based medical respite too.”
Dr. Merugu is well-versed in caring for those with acute medical needs. A former primary care physician at St. Vincent Charity Medical Center, Dr. Merugu was among the first class to complete their internal medicine residency at St. Vincent Charity. He learned about compassionate, patient-first care from his mentor, Dr. Richard Christie, as well as from social worker Sr. Ruth Ann Patrick, CSA.
During his time as a resident, chief medical resident, physician and preceptor, Dr. Merugu witnessed patients having to return to hospitals and ERs time and time again due to unstable living environments and other unmet social needs. Often, they became stuck in a vicious cycle they could not be broken, due to circumstances beyond the hospital’s four walls.
“Caring for people at St. Vincent Charity put into perspective society at large; it made me more aware. I developed a holistic systems-based view of life and health care,” said Dr. Merugu. “Patients can’t achieve good health outcomes without addressing system level issues. Unless you work on all of it simultaneously, you won’t be able to achieve health.”
In 2014, Dr Merugu left St. Vincent Charity to focus on population health work with an emphasis on the social drivers of health. However, Joseph & Mary’s Home remains close to his heart. He served on the board for two years and was on the “A New Home for Healing” campaign committee. The conversation of medical respite’s essential nature is one he has shared with many professionals.
Dr. Merugu said, “The men and women who are served at Joseph & Mary’s Home are often the most invisible members of our community. They have such complex medical and social issues; it is a blind spot for those in the health care system and otherwise. The expansion of Joseph & Mary’s Home helps meet the community’s need and requires both public and private investments to sustain it.”
