Center helps those who are homeless, recovering from illnesses
OVER-THE-RHINE, Ohio (WKRC) - It was a double punch. A local man was homeless and ended up in the hospital. Joseph Harmon was about to go back on the streets, but a phone call from a group that is breaking the cycle of poverty changed his life.
Harmon was born with a genetic and progressive eye disease that left him legally blind.
"I didn't actually know what it was or catch it until I was about 20, 21, so I've been playing catch-up with it ever since," Harmon said.
He's been in and out of the hospital for cornea surgeries. He's also been struggling to pay the bills and find a place to live.
"Initially from the hospital, I just thought I was going to be on the streets. I'm like, OK, I'm about to go into a repetitive cycle of not being able to properly take care of my eye. I'm going to be back here month-to-month, month-to-month. I thought I was going to end up going to the Drop Inn Center or the Bell House," he said.
Instead, Harmon got a call from the Center for Respite Care. He met the criteria to live in the medical recovery program that provides people with a bed, healthy meals and the care needed to heal.
"Dr. Donovan, our physician, and the others that were part of the founding just saw people being discharged to the streets. We're the only facility like this in the area," said Ed Slater from the center.
Slater says the program also focuses helping the homeless become self-sufficient. Harmon calls his experience living in the Over-the-Rhine center a blessing. He's turned his passion for cooking into a job.
"They took it to heart, the staff here, and they came back with all these options. 'Hey, we have this program going on, and if you graduate this program, you can get this Cincinnati Cooks, and this place is really well-respected' and this, that and a third. So I was like absolutely, let me do that. That way I can have some kind of feeling of worth while I'm in here healing properly. So, they just set me up really well, and I said it's not just heal and get out. They want to see you be productive once you leave here," Harmon said.
As Harmon waits for his eye to heal, he's also seeing a new vision for his life.
The Center for Respite Care says about 80 percent of their clients end up in a safe and stable environment.
