On Thursday, December 11th, a rally will be held in front of UPMC Braddock to protest UPMC's decision to close the House of Hope. The rally is expected to run from 11:15 AM till 12:45 PM.
House of Hope was designed to help addicted, homeless women who are pregnant or new mothers. It offers a small-group (only five clients at a time) residence setting for 90-day stays, during which the women get treatment and counseling for their addiction. Their babies get to stay with them during their treatment stay.
UPMC has announced its intention to close House of Hope on January 2nd as a cost-cutting move.
Below please find C+C Committee Member Margaret Miller's letter to the Post-Gazette about this (11.23.2008):
Care betrayal
To those at UPMC who are closing House of Hope, I know these are difficult economic times. However, as I read about all the new projects that UPMC has money for, I cannot for the life of me see why keeping House of Hope would put such a strain on UPMC's budget.
If indeed it is true that UPMC or its foundation did not have sufficient funds available to continue to support House of Hope, this surely is no excuse for keeping the annual budget a secret. Perhaps some other group could try to undertake supporting it.
I know that the hospitals that make up UPMC's facilities here in Pittsburgh were, for the most part, started by members of various religious communities. This seems like a betrayal of this caring impulse.
MARGARET R. MILLER
Point Breeze
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