Circle the City has 50 beds to care for the homeless, and several are reserved for hospice patients. James Martz was diagnosed with lung cancer in 2017 and hit rock bottom before getting help.
A chunky silver ring on his right hand is one of the only material possessions Martz still has from his “old life.” He was sleeping in his car in a strip mall parking lot when the police kicked him out after the center’s owner complained.
“I just grabbed my meds and anything essential and just walked off the property,” Martz said. He walked until the skin on his feet bubbled into blisters. A hospital covered the wounds with salve and discharged him.
“I got out of the hospital and I tried to get out of the wheelchair they wheeled me in and I couldn’t even stand up,” Martz said. Then he remembered he had a number for Hospice of the Valley. That ultimately connected him to Circle the City.
