LAKELAND, Fla. — Earlier this year, ABC Action News reported about a Lakeland homeless shelter experiencing a surge in patient dumping. A state agency is now looking into the issue.
Talbot House Ministries’ director of programs, Deborah Cozzetti, is keeping track of the number of times a patient is dropped off from a hospital to the Lakeland homeless shelter. She said it has happened 64 times so far this year, compared to 18 last year.
In February, ABC Action News spoke to Cozzetti about the increase of hospitals throughout the state, bringing patients to the shelter, without the patient's or the shelter's consent.
Without enough beds or the ability to care for patients, Talbot House ends up sending them back to the hospital.
“We don't have the capability medically. As a shelter we’re already over capacity. We're 120 percent over capacity. We have people sleeping on floors, the dining room floor at night, on mats and cots and everything,” Cozzetti said.
This patient dumping has triggered an investigation by the Florida Agency for Health Care Administration (AHCA). Cozetti said AHCA specifically asked about drops off from Dade City. AHCA has not responded to ABC Action News request for comment.
“It’s the acknowledgment that there is an issue here. We can't just sweep this under the rug and think homelessness is going to go away,” said Cozetti.
Cozetti said the hospital drop offs have decreased since the surge in winter and early spring. Lakeland police are called each time it does happen.
In a statement, Lakeland Police Chief Sam Taylor said, in part:
"I’m glad to hear that officials are looking into the matter, and I look forward to seeing what their inquiry reveals. The individuals who are being dropped off in Lakeland against their wishes deserve better.”
Cozzetti believes state and local leaders must do more to address the issue, for example, building stabilization centers like they have in other states.
“They would be staffed 24/7 with medical care, with mental health care, so we don't have them dumped in the street,” Cozzetti said.
A state report says hundreds of frail elderly nursing home residents were stacked side by side, head to toe in a small church with no working air conditioning or refrigerator during Hurricane Helene.
