Happening at Rocky Mountain Refuge:
Ongoing Caregiving
Community Support Remains Strong
Community Support Remains Strong
We provide personal care, companionship, and a clean, warm place for our residents in our rooms at Denver Rescue Mission's The Crossing.
See some of our friends' stories on the Life Stories page!
Community Support Remains Strong
Community Support Remains Strong
Community Support Remains Strong
We’re so thankful for each of you and for all of the ways that you show faithful support to this project and the people we serve.
Our community support from partner organizations, donations, and grants has been truly heartening!
Improving Our Financial Model
Community Support Remains Strong
Improving Our Financial Model
We are creating agreements with area hospitals under which they can pay per diem for their patients that we care for.
This is more economical than continued hospital stays, and provides a better, more appropriate setting for end-of-life care.
This will stabilize our finances in combination with ongoing grants and donations.
Continuum of Care
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Improving Our Financial Model
Many people experiencing homelessness at the end of life are still quite capable of taking care of themselves. They don’t need or want full-time care. But they have nowhere to store their medications securely or meet privately with hospice nursing staff.
We are developing a new "Continuum of Care" model with local shelters and hospice partners. With a dedicated room in a shelter, folks can self-care while supported by their hospice agency. When they need full-time care, Rocky Mountain Refuge will be there for them.
Catch Our Newsletter!
Catch Our Newsletter!
Catch Our Newsletter!
See what you've missed, and subscribe for email updates.
There's some good stuff to dig up in the archive.
Woof!
Rocky Mountain Refuge In The News
9News: Next with Kyle Clark - 10/9/2024
Colorado Real Estate Journal - February 7-20 2024
9News: Next with Kyle Clark - 10/9/2024
We are thrilled to announce a major milestone in our fundraising efforts! On October 9, during the 6 pm broadcast on Denver’s Channel 9, Kyle Clark focused the NEXT giving campaign Rocky Mountain Refuge!
You can also go directly to Kyle Clark's Word of Thanks donation page for RMR.
Colorado Sun - 5/27/2024
Colorado Real Estate Journal - February 7-20 2024
9News: Next with Kyle Clark - 10/9/2024
"Colorado veterans go through hundreds of unclaimed cremated remains to give comrades a dignified memorial"
Our resident, Daniel, was one of the veterans buried with honors at Ft. Logan. Brother JP Hall, our Executive Director, served as chaplain for the ceremony.
Daniel loved root beer floats!
Colorado Real Estate Journal - February 7-20 2024
Colorado Real Estate Journal - February 7-20 2024
"Providing Refuge: Hospice Care for the Unhoused"
Brother JP Hall, our Executive Director, wrote this article for this CREJ's section focusing on Affordable Housing.
PBS News Hour - 6/16/2023
"Unhoused Americans have few places to turn when death is near"
Rocky Mountain PBS - 3/8/2023
Rocky Mountain PBS - 3/8/2023
"Rocky Mountain Refuge helps unhoused Coloradans find peace in the face of death"
303 Magazine - 9/12/2022
Rocky Mountain PBS - 3/8/2023
"Rocky Mountain Refuge Provides Hospice Care for Unhoused"
Denver7 - 3/11/2022
Denver7 - 3/11/2022
Denver7 - 3/11/2022
"Shelter in Denver offering end-of-life care to those experiencing homelessness"
Westword - 3/3/2022
Denver7 - 3/11/2022
Denver7 - 3/11/2022
"Rocky Mountain Refuge Linking Homeless to Hospice Care"
Jim's Story
“Jim” was a regular guest at the day shelter where I was working. He was a pleasant guy, a Vietnam veteran in his 70s and a fixture in the homeless community—one of those guys everyone knows and everyone seems to like.
I had a fair amount of contact with Jim. He always had some material need he was hoping to have fulfilled by the shelter. Usually there wasn’t much I could do for him, but he was fun to talk to and he seemed to need a listening ear as much as anything.
He was a frequent flier at the nearby hospital where they’d check him in for an afternoon or maybe overnight and check him out in basically the same state he was in before his visit.
- Truth be told, anyone who cared to pay attention could tell Jim was dying. We knew it. The hospital knew it. Jim knew it. But there was nowhere for him to go.
One morning a couple of Jim’s friends came in and said they found him dead by his cart on the side of the road not far from the overpass where they camped. It wasn’t a surprise but it was still a tragedy. Jim saw death coming for him.
Jim died with dignity because he lived with dignity. But he deserved to die in a bed, with a blanket over his body, a roof over his head, and someone to care for his hurts and listen to his fears. But without a place for that care to be given, Jim died in the place he knew best: on the side of the road, next to his cart, alone.
We owe it to Jim to do better for people like him, who deserve the same care Jim deserved, the same care all of us deserve at the end of our life.
Logan Robinson, Pastor/Director, AfterHours Denver
Supporting Partner Organizations
Providing grants and in-kind support
Partner Agencies
Providing services alongside Rocky Mountain Refuge
