La Casa del Puente Transitional Housing Program Helps Those With
Mental Illness
Morgan Hill – Maria Diaz no longer has trouble getting out of bed in the morning. She now looks forward to her busy day and her future doesn’t seem so blighted.
But it wasn’t always easy for the 51-year-old woman. She credits the four months she spent in 1993 at La Casa del Puente, a transitional home for patients suffering from mental illness, with getting her back on her feet.
The transitional housing facility miraculously helped Diaz learn to cope with schizophrenia, a mental illness and related disability which initially involves hallucinations and/or delusions and that affects thousands of people in Santa Clara County each year.
“Before La Casa, I was very ill,” she said. “I didn’t do things like cooking, keeping my room clean. At La Casa, they teach you to do these things. They help you to learn. They are really wonderful.”
Despite Diaz’s schizophrenia, with the proper treatment and medication, she is living a productive and happy life.
Diaz has family in Mexico and in southern California, but not locally. She has not married and has no children.
Before she went to La Casa, she was hospitalized in several institutions. Her mental illness prevented her from functioning normally, from taking care of herself and handling her surroundings.
Those dark days are over now. Diaz spends her days doing clerical work part time for the South County Mental Health Center and volunteering at the Mt. Madonna Senior Center.
She lives in a group home in Morgan Hill funded by Community Solutions and enjoys the beautiful flowers that fill the back yard of the home.
While she was at La Casa, where patients can stay up to six months to stabilize after hospitalization, Diaz took classes at the Learning and Loving Education Center.
“I learned English there, with the nuns,” she said.
She also took computer classes and became so proficient that she secured her part-time job.
Diaz is an example of the success the staff at the transitional living center brings to its clients, said Lisa DeSilva, development director for Community Solutions.
“La Casa provides our patients an opportunity to get stabilized on their meds,” DeSilva said. “We give them a chance to work on their ADLs, activities of daily living, and their socialization skills, basic things like that. We have therapy groups; we go on outings. There are various activities for the clients; they can help us with volunteer projects, like getting ready for the event today.”
Thursday afternoon, Community Solutions hosted an open house at La Casa, located on the corner of Depot and East Second streets, to unveil the results of the recent remodeling of the facility. The work on the transitional group home was completed at the expense of the city, said DeSilva.
“It’s wonderful to have the support of the city of Morgan Hill to renovate and refurbish La Casa,” said Linda Jordan, chief operating officer for Community Solutions. “It is extremely helpful to have this kind of environment for our clients.”
The city funded the renovation through a housing rehabilitation fund.
“La Casa is a very quiet success story in Morgan Hill,” said City Councilman Greg Sellers. “I am pleased that the city could, in some small way, contribute to the continued hard work and accomplishment of this program. La Casa is an important part of our community.”
La Casa now has new flooring and carpeting, completely remodeled bathrooms and a fresh coat of paint. The refurbishing also included new beds, dressers, closet organizers, a new refrigerator, new bed linens and comforters and an additional new washer and dryer.
Vicki Pacheco, Community Solutions’ program director for residential and housing services, thinks the renovation will have a positive effect on the clients, who will move to permanent living facilities after their stay in La Casa, if their stay is successful.
One of the things she has learned during her years as program manager is that the client has to feel at home immediately in the residence.
The facility housed 10 clients, but because of the renovation, it now has a capacity of 12. There are currently nine residents, but Pacheco said the home likely will fill up.
The home is staffed by six caretakers and three relief workers plus Pacheco, who said since she lives close by and has been with the program from the beginning, she is on call pretty much around the clock.
“We are a licensed 24-hour facility, and I know what we need to do to get our license renewed,” Pacheco said. “In October, I will celebrate my 24th anniversary here. When we opened, we were on Church Street, waiting while this building was completed. It was a duplex originally, and we had a lot of work to get the garages converted into offices.”
Marilyn Dubil covers education and law enforcement for The Times. Reach her at (408) 779-4106 ext. 202 or at md****@mo*************.com.
