Turkey Drive: Good Samaritan Shelter recuperative care program helping clients with medical and housing needs
Dave Alley
GUADALUPE, Calif. (KEYT) – Good Samaritan Shelter is helping its clients who have medical and housing needs through its recuperative care program.
The Santa Maria-based non-profit organization assists hundreds of clients in Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo counties each year, including Candy Reyes of Guadalupe.
The Santa Maria native was first connected with Good Samaritan Shelter in the spring of 2024 following many years spent living on the streets.
“I was homeless for nine years,” said Reyes. “I was out in the streets. I was in the river bed. I was sleeping behind dumpsters. I was out there using drugs, not caring about life. I didn’t have a life.”
It was a dangerous and unhealthy lifestyle that culminated into a life threatening situation following an injury Reyes suffered on her foot.
“I had an accident where I stepped on a piece of glass and it went through my toe and my toe had gotten amputated,” said Reyes. “Then I went septic and I went back to the hospital and they amputated more of my my foot. I was in a hospital for a month and a half. They didn’t know if I was going to leave or not.”
During her time in the hospital, Reyes was referred to Good Samaritan Shelter and its recuperative care program, setting off a fortunate chain of events that would eventually help her turn her life around.
“I received the referral,” said Mary De Guzman, Good Samaritan Shelter Recuperative Care Manager. “I work closely with Dignity Health, the social work team, and so, based on acuity, she really needed a safe place to be because she just had an amputation and I remember meeting her when she was in a wheelchair. She couldn’t move. Couldn’t really do much and so in an instant, I was like yes, you’re appropriate for our program.”
Through the program, Reyes eventually was provided housing at “Hope Village,” a temporary housing shelter Good Samaritan manages in Santa Maria.
“She really just wanted to change her life,” said De Guzman “With our team, my team providing services for her, whether it was doing her daily vital signs to make sure she’s stable, getting to her appointments, getting her lab work done so she can have these surgeries, and having home health come to Hope Village that really, those were vital parts to her healing.”
The recuperative care program is just one of many that Good Samaritan operates and provides to clients who are in need of its specific resources.
“Recuperative care is a special and dear program to me,” said De Guzman “It’s basically where we provide a safe place for people who are going through anything medical. I do want to add, besides medical, people who may have mental health diagnosis and or substance abuse diagnosis, so think of someone who’s not, sick enough to stay in the hospital or like a skilled nursing facility. That’s where we come in, and we provide them that safe place, and medical support services to really get them to their healing journey, so when clients are with us they have a case manager and medical support, but the case manager, besides having the client be medically stable, they also think about what’s next and permanent housing wise, so they get them document ready and do all those things as well. Besides the medical aspect.”
In Reyes’ case, Good Samaritan was able to assist her enough where she was able to transition from Hope Village into an apartment complex in Guadalupe.
“It’s my place,” said Reyes. “It’s something I could call my own. It means it means everything to me.”
Reyes is just one of many local residents in need who will directly benefit from the News Channel 12 Turkey Drive, which helps provide a Thanksgiving meal to Good Samaritan clients in Northern Santa Barbara County and SLO Food Bank clients in San Luis Obispo County.
“I’m so ready for that turkey because this gave me my first year in my house,” said Reyes. “I get to cook my turkey, and I’m so excited. My kids are going to be here, and after after 13 years, I get to reunite with my daughter. It’s priceless and I feel like my life is complete.”
For more information about the News Channel 12 Turkey Drive, or to donate, click here.