Tutu Bert’s House Honors Legacy of Roberta DuTeil

13 Jul Tutu Bert’s House Honors Legacy of Roberta DuTeil

With the number of hospital referrals growing each year (up to 639 in 2015), IHS felt compelled to create a safety net for medically frail homeless upon being discharged from a hospital.  These “house guests” are no longer in need of in-patient hospitalization, but are still too frail to recuperate on the streets or in an urban shelter.  Large emergency shelters are often too stimulating, and it is nearly impossible for fragile homeless individuals to be treated sufficiently to fully recover.

Tutu Bert’s House is dedicated after Roberta DuTeil, IHS’ Founder Claude DuTeil’s wife, who ministered to homeless people alongside Father Claude. In partnership with HomeAid Hawaii and The Queen’s Medical Center, the guest house facilitates short-term stabilization and supportive case management that accelerates the transition out of homelessness. Guest services include access to our full spectrum of homeless programs; including housing navigation, intensive case management, daily meals, hosting home healthcare, and other supportive resources to avoid re-hospitalization.

Opening in March 2016, IHS projects to serve at least 60 individuals each year and save tax payers at minimum, $2.68M per year from unnecessary healthcare costs.

“Tutu Bert’s House is truly an innovative project and partnership that helps to provide the right care in the right setting. By providing homeless patients with a space to recover, we are in return providing a critical service to our community by saving money that would otherwise be spent on extended hospital treatment or emergency room visits.”

Karen Schultz
Vice President, The Queen’s Medical Center

“The building industry’s response and willingness to address homelessness not only saves IHS money to renovate Tutu Bert’s House; it allows them to dedicate their limited resources to provide program services, which is needed most. We are grateful to our three developers from Alexander & Baldwin, Castle & Cooke, and Stanford Carr Development that helped reduce a $150,000 renovation cost to $20,000 and incurred that cost at no charge to IHS.”

Nani Mederios
Executive Director, HomeAid Hawaii