A new medical respite center opens in Mesa

Circle the City is expanding into the East Valley with an all new medical respite center in Mesa, Arizona. It is going to be a $24 million, state-of-the-art facility with 84 beds, which is nearly doubling the size of the two respite centers they have in Phoenix. This will be a place where those experiencing homelessness can rest and recover if they aren’t sick enough for the hospital, but too sick to be on their own on the streets.

Dr. Kim Despres, DHA, RN and CEO at Circle The City, joined “Arizona Horizon” to share how “Circle the City” is also a part of Bradley Cooper’s “Caregiving” documentary that will be airing on Arizona PBS at 8 p.m. on Tuesday, June 24, 2025.

According to Dr. Despres, the goal is to “find them a place to go when they leave our facility. About 78 to 80% of patients who leave our facility are placed someplace other than the street or shelter.”

However, due to size constraints of the buildings, the average stay is about 45 days ,and then they need to find the folks somewhere else to go.

“So the longer we hold on to patients, the fewer beds there are for the really sick patients,” Dr. Despres said. “It’s a very fine balance and can be difficult decisions. But we’ll try very hard to get them to a safe place.”

Visit the Circle the City website to learn more.