Ministries provide housing for out-of-town patients, caregivers during medical stays

Ministries provide housing for out-of-town patients, caregivers during medical stays

At four months pregnant, Brett went in for her normal checkup to find out if her baby was a boy or a girl.

She found out — a girl — but she found out something else too.

“We found out that she had a hole in her heart,” Brett said. “We were sent to a specialist in Huntsville.”

That specialist gave the hole a name and told them their little girl had a cleft lip and palate and radial dysplasia, or a club hand. He also told Brett and her husband that their daughter would never survive outside the womb without some help.

“This was happening whether we were prepared for it or not,” Brett said.

A few months later, she had her daughter, Isla, at UAB Hospital.

“We wanted to be close to our daughter, but we couldn’t get any rest in her room,” she said. “A couple of days in, we were brought the information about Red Mountain Grace from a social worker.”

It was a godsend for Brett. Red Mountain Grace — a local ministry started by Jason Carroll and John Burdett — provides housing for out-of-town patients and caregivers during their extended medical stays in Birmingham. Carroll, a member of The Church at Brook Hills, Birmingham, and Burdett, a member of Church of the Highlands, wanted to serve families who are enduring the trials of distance medical care.

For Brett, the fully furnished apartment “felt like a little piece of home” — a welcome rest amid their “heartbreaking” reality. She ended up staying there for seven months.

She said Red Mountain Grace stood in the fire for her and her family.

“We’re so thankful for Red Mountain Grace and their generosity and their love,” she said.

Through the past six years, Red Mountain Grace has provided housing for 450 families coming to Birmingham for cancer treatment, transplants and other long-term medical treatment. The ministry started with two apartments and now has 18 adopted by individuals or groups who pay the rent. Volunteers also bring food to the families and decorate the apartments to make them feel as much like home as possible.

Temporary home

“At this very moment, we’re pretty much full — we have a wait list,” said Lindsay Miller, marketing and events coordinator for Red Mountain Grace. “Our work is far from over, but we’re one of the fastest growing nonprofits in Birmingham. We want to continue to grow as long as there is a family that is sleeping on the patient’s floor of our local hospitals.”

Michael Ethridge, director of operations for Birmingham Metro Baptist Association, said the association is hoping to help meet some of those needs too. The association ran an apartment ministry near UAB Hospital until the building they were using was torn down. 

Now they’re working on an arrangement to use the sixth floor of Brookwood Baptist Medical Center’s emergency room building to house out-of-town families facing medical issues at any area hospitals, not just Brookwood.

Called the Caring Hands Lodge, it will be a “wonderful ministry opportunity to come alongside and walk with people who are going through really difficult times,” Ethridge said, noting they hope to open as soon as July. “We’re really excited.”

Blessing families

Debbie Jones, director of Samaritan’s Inn in Montgomery, said it’s been a blessing for them to help families in need too, though their model is slightly different. The Montgomery Baptist Association ministry uses donations to subsidize room costs at area hospitals to make it more affordable for out-of-town patients and their families. 

They also have a three-bedroom house that was renovated and decorated by dozens of volunteer teams.

“Our families come here, and they don’t know anybody. Most of ours are coming because of a crisis situation, and they were not prepared for this,” Jones said. “To let them know someone cares makes a difference. They are in awe that strangers care.”

For more information, visit redmountaingrace.com or email Debbie Jones at samaritaninnministry@mgmbaptists.org.