Question about patient discharge in Florida

Hello all – I am dealing with a placement issue for a family member and looking for anyone that may have insight. I have been a nurse for ten years but I’ve been away from the ICU for over 3 so I’m a little fuzzy on some issues.

My mother’s brother is currently in a trauma ICU in Florida after a fall. He is baseline extremely unhealthy so I’m certain this will be an extended hospitalization. He is essentially estranged from both his children but I believe he listed his daughter as his primary contact instead of my mom. He has no cell phone so it’s difficult to communicate with him. We are trying to get the primary contact changed to my mom but she’s been having a lot of trouble getting anyone from case management or social work to call her (obviously understandable until we can get my uncle or his daughter to clarify that my mom will be his contact). Our biggest concern is that my uncle was apparently living illegally his trailer and now will have no place to go once he is discharged. From my memory(and in a different state), any time we had unhoused patients they could not be discharged without a place to go. Is anyone possibly familiar with the process for discharge of unhoused patients in FL? Basically we are just trying to figure out if my mom should be going to Florida ASAP or if we have some time to sort housing out. My uncle has Medicare for health insurance. Thank you in advance!

submitted by /u/Adept_Marzipan_9129
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