Meet Dale, a beneficiary of the State’s New CalAIM Program

By Pooja Bhalla, DNP, RN, Illumination Foundation CEO

I recently presented at “Putting Care at the Center,” a conference sponsored by the Camden Coalition’s National Center for Complex Health and Social Needs. During one session, I was accompanied by a special guest. His name is Dale Stout, and he has been an Illumination Foundation client since February 2022.  Dale has given his permission to share his story.

Dale’s story illustrates the capacity of California Advancing and​ Innovating Medi-Cal (CalAIM) to improve care for people experiencing homelessness—especially those with complex physical or behavioral health needs. CalAIM, which went live in January 2022, is a long-term commitment to transform and strengthen Medi-Cal, offering Californians a more equitable, coordinated​, and person-centered approach to maximizing their health and life trajectory.

Dale, who is 50 years old, shared his story with conference attendees. He was employed as a roofer when he moved in with his aging mom to help her. At the time, Dale was drinking heavily. As his mom’s health deteriorated, he drank more heavily. His mom suffered a stroke. One week later, Dale suffered a stroke. Both ended up in the hospital. Dale’s mom has since passed away, but Dale has survived. He was hospitalized for 17 days, enduring multiple seizures and lapsing into a coma.

“Before all this happened, I was a very productive citizen,” he told the conference attendees. “That was all taken away in the blink of an eye.”

 Illumination Foundation client Dale Stout, left, with Dr. Pooja Bhalla

The stroke and seizures caused Dale to suffer speech and mobility issues, requiring further treatment. Nevertheless, the hospital was ready to discharge him—and he had nowhere to go.

“I came out of my coma and my house was taken,” Dale said. “My mom died. My job, my career, my vehicles. Everything was taken. And the doctors were ready to discharge me. Here you go. I had no place to go. Nothing. I didn’t know what I was going to do.”

This is when a hospital patient advocate linked Dale to Illumination Foundation’s recuperative care/medical respite facility in Riverside, where we could provide the safe haven and services he needed to continue his recovery. Prior to CalAIM, there were many barriers and restrictions to qualifying for medical respite, resulting in only about 2 out of every 10 individuals who need medical respite actually receiving it. If Dale had fallen ill before January, it is unlikely that we could have given him the help he needs.

However, as a result of CalAIM we’re now able to accept clients with health challenges who previously would have been forced back to the street, or to a shelter that was not equipped to offer respite. What’s more, in July CalAIM rolled out Short-Term Post-Hospitalization (STPH) housing, which extends the length of medical respite stay for individuals such as Dale who continue to have high medical needs. In Dale’s case, STPH had the added benefit of giving us time to prepare the documents he needed to obtain a housing voucher. This is CalAIM working at its best. This is what it is designed to do: offer an opportunity for someone like Dale to actually recuperate, allowing service providers such as Illumination Foundation to offer a whole-person approach to care and to better address the social factors that impact health, with an eye toward getting each client housed.

Even with CalAIM allowing us to help more clients, the system remains flawed. Healthcare and housing are intrinsically linked, and the housing inventory in Southern California remains critically low, with Orange County vacancy rates hovering around 2.5 percent. Illumination Foundation currently has about 95 clients, including Dale, with housing vouchers that are set to expire soon. We are addressing this bottleneck by continuing our efforts to build affordable housing so that we can transition people out of medical respite into housing. Because every person has an intrinsic right to home, health, and dignity.

When Dale, who still faces health challenges, professed his gratitude for the help he has received, there were few dry eyes among the conference attendees.

“I am 50 years old and I’ve never experienced that kind of love and care,” he said. “Illumination Foundation gave me everything from an address so I can get mail all the way to my medication, every appointment, everything. They’ve done everything for me. I cannot tell you how blessed I am. I just want to make sure I can thank all of them. I don’t have the time to go into detail. I wish I could. But it’s just amazing.”