The authors describe New York City's program to remove seriously
mentally ill homeless people from the streets to a public hospital. They
report on the 298 patients hospitalized during the first year of this
program. Most of the patients were male (66%), single (77%), and from
outside of New York City (79%) and claimed a history of previous
psychiatric hospitalization (92%) and that they had been homeless for more
than 1 year (66%). Most of the patients suffered from schizophrenia (80%)
and had additional medical diagnoses (73%). Follow- up contact with the
patients 2 years after initiation of the program revealed that 55% of the
patients either were living in a community setting or were under
institutional care.Abstract Teaser