La Casa Del Puente Transitional Housing Program helps with
mental illness
n By Marilyn Dubil
Staff Writer
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 dark.
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 that affects thousands of people in Santa Clara County each year.
“Before La Casa, I was very ill,” she said. “I didn’t do thinks 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.Â
Those dark days are over now. Diaz spends her days working part time for the South County Mental Health Center and volunteering at the Mt. Madonna Senior Center.Â
She lives in a group home in Morgan Hill funded by Community Solutions and enjoys the beautiful flowers that fill the home’s back yard.
While she was at La Casa, where patients can stay up to six months, Diaz took classes at the Learning and Loving Education Center where she learned English. She also took computer classes and became so proficient that she secured her part-time job.Â
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 … activities of daily living, and their socialization skills, basic things like that.”
Thursday afternoon, Community Solutions hosted an open house at La Casa in Morgan Hill 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, DeSilva said.
“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, contributed 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 immediately feel at home in the residence.
The facility increased capacity by two to 12 clients, though there are nine current residents. But Pacheco said the home likely will fill up.
