Lakeland homeless shelter faces crisis as hospitals dump patients on its doorstep: 'They lied to me'
LAKELAND, Fla. - A homeless services provider in Polk County is overwhelmed with patients being dumped on their doorsteps by hospitals all across Florida.
Talbot House Ministries in Lakeland told FOX 13 this is an escalating crisis and there needs to be a solution.
Body camera video from the Lakeland Police Department, dated January 10, shows an Uber driver dropping off a wheelchair-bound man at Talbot House. The man, who came from a mental health facility in Wesley Chapel that paid for his Uber, can be heard telling the officer he did not request to come to the shelter.
"Did you want them to displace you from where you were?" The officer is heard asking on the body cam.
The man responded, "No, I did not."
Hospital patient dumping is when hospitals leave patients at local shelters, sometimes without the patient's or the shelter's consent.
"They say they've called us, and we haven't received a call. They tell them there's going to be a bed waiting for them, but there's no bed. They show up at our door," said Deborah Cozzetti, director of programs at Talbot House Ministries.
MORE: Downtown Lakeland adding security cameras to deter crime
The incidents, like the one in the body cam video, happen numerous times a week, and it's become a growing crisis because they don't have the medical capabilities to care for them.
"Then we end up having to send them back to the hospital and there's this revolving door going back and forth, and it's not fair to the patient," said Cozzetti.
Their shelter is currently over capacity by 140%. They said this problem has been happening over the last several years but has gotten much worse since the COVID-19 pandemic.
"It just really breaks your heart to see people that old, and even young people that come. We had 18-year-olds that were here. It's heartbreaking when we have individuals that come here, and they have nowhere to go," said Angelina Ligon, the case management supervisor at Talbot House Ministries.
The man in the body cam video was taken to a local hospital for medical treatment and the Uber driver learned an important lesson.
READ: Lakeland non-profit expands campus to serve more single mothers, children
"Make sure you're verifying information before you transport people, because it could be kidnapping if he doesn't want to be in your car, and you're moving him from one place to another place. Ok?" The officer told the Uber driver.
Talbot House Ministries can help who they can, but Cozzetti said city, county and government officials need to come up with a better solution.
"Maybe we can be a model for the nation. This is what happened in Polk County, and maybe we can do it in our county too. Because people are being mistreated," Cozzetti said.
Talbot House Ministries didn't want to mention any hospitals by name, but they hope this story will raise enough awareness and that the hospitals will stop dumping patients permanently.