Re: Amen!
"There was a time states in the US had such institutions."
Yes there was. To read about the last place left like that, start here:
https://www.amazon.com/Gods-Hotel-Hospital-Pilgrimage-Medicine/dp/1594486549/ref=pd_sbs_14_56?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=1594486549&pd_rd_r=fe7c0705-de56-49b8-ac06-ed7274aa63e2&pd_rd_w=In8TG&pd_rd_wg=399xi&pf_rd_p=d66372fe-68a6-48a3-90ec-41d7f64212be&pf_rd_r=5ERQ5AAJYSY3Y8Y8D2N0&psc=1&refRID=5ERQ5AAJYSY3Y8Y8D2N0
From the description:
"...San Francisco’s Laguna Honda Hospital is the last almshouse in the country, a descendant of the Hôtel-Dieu (God’s hotel) that cared for the sick in the Middle Ages. Ballet dancers and rock musicians, professors and thieves—“anyone who had fallen, or, often, leapt, onto hard times” and needed extended medical care—ended up here. "
Yes there was. To read about the last place left like that, start here:
https://www.amazon.com/Gods-Hotel-Hospital-Pilgrimage-Medicine/dp/1594486549/ref=pd_sbs_14_56?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=1594486549&pd_rd_r=fe7c0705-de56-49b8-ac06-ed7274aa63e2&pd_rd_w=In8TG&pd_rd_wg=399xi&pf_rd_p=d66372fe-68a6-48a3-90ec-41d7f64212be&pf_rd_r=5ERQ5AAJYSY3Y8Y8D2N0&psc=1&refRID=5ERQ5AAJYSY3Y8Y8D2N0
From the description:
"...San Francisco’s Laguna Honda Hospital is the last almshouse in the country, a descendant of the Hôtel-Dieu (God’s hotel) that cared for the sick in the Middle Ages. Ballet dancers and rock musicians, professors and thieves—“anyone who had fallen, or, often, leapt, onto hard times” and needed extended medical care—ended up here. "