Discharged: No Help For Homeless Alcoholic
Last Wednesday night, my friend Deb and I went to the ER at Wesley Long with a Community Dinner guest. He was having DTs really bad and he wanted help. He told us that he wouldn’t make it through another winter on the street. We hoped to get him into a detox and then into a residential rehab. He was ready and willing. But he kept telling us that it wouldn’t work — that every time he’d tried to get sober, they’d detox him for a couple of days and then put him back out on the street without sending him to a rehab program. He said, “To them, I’m just a poor, homeless drunk.” We assured him that wouldn’t happen this time. (But apparently, we were wrong.)
Late Wednesday night, we were told that the State was out of money to do detox, so they couldn’t send him to a detox facility. They did agree to admit him to Wesley Long, and our congregational nurse case manager from Grace followed up the next morning. A Wesley Long social worker looked into rehab options and so did Grace’s nurse case manager. I had planned to call our nurse this afternoon to find out where our friend was going to rehab this week. But before I could do that, I got a frantic phone call from him as I was on my way to church this morning. The social worker hadn’t found a rehab spot for him yet. So he was being discharged. With no place to go.
Today is Sunday. The offices of rehab facilities, transitional housing programs and homeless shelters are closed. Case managers, outreach workers and volunteers have the day off. And on a Sunday morning, many of us are at church. And yet, that’s the time when Wesley Long Hospital decided to discharge a homeless alcoholic (with other medical problems) — just four days clean — with no discharge plan and no place to go.
We recently presented the Ten Year Plan to End Homelessness in Guilford County. We talked about the need for substance abuse treatment. We talked about the importance of discharge planning and zero tolerance for discharging homeless people to the street. I served on a committee with a Moses Cone vice president. (Wesley Long is owned by Moses Cone.) We know that we need more substance abuse treatment options. But we don’t have them. We know that we’re not supposed to discharge homeless people to the street. But we keep doing it anyway.
Before he left the hospital, I called and questioned why our friend was being discharged without a plan — to the street. One nurse was sympathetic but unable to help. Another was hostile and defensive. I got nowhere. I called our friend back, feeling frustrated and hopeless that he was running out of time and I couldn’t do anything. And he comforted me. “It’s a losing battle at this point,” he said, in a voice that sounded so used to losing that it made me want to weep and scream and rage and fight against all the injustices done to this man from his tragic childhood until now, and against all the injustices done to our homeless friends who walk wounded and scarred in a world that ignores them or blames them or just doesn’t care.
When I got out of church a couple of hours later, our friend was standing in the exact same spot in the parking lot where an ambulance had picked him up four days earlier. Wesley Long had graciously provided him with a taxi voucher after unceremoniously discharging him, and he’d returned to us because he had nowhere else to go.
Once again, he’d asked for help. Once again, he’d had a few days of detox and then been kicked out, back to the street, with no rehab, no real help. But he didn’t seem surprised or upset. Because he never really thought it would go any other way. After all, to them, he was just a “poor, homeless drunk.”
* * * * *
God, I know that you make a way where’s there no way. I’ve seen You do it before, so many times. I’m sick and tired of trusting man’s broken systems. Heal Your people. Comfort the wounded. Save the lost. Show me how to be Your hands and feet. Forgive me when I fail. “My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus’ blood and righteousness…”
* * * * *
From the Guilford County Ten Year Plan to End Homelessness:
Objective: Provide prevention and supportive services to prevent persons from becoming chronically homeless and to enable those who are chronically homeless to move to and remain in a stable housing situation and maximize their self-sufficiency.
Identified need: Need for stronger prevention at discharge
Strategy: Ensure that every person being discharged from jail, hospitals, mental health care, or foster care has a discharge plan that leads to stable housing and supports a community policy of “zero tolerance” for discharge to homelessness.
Action Step: Appoint a team of key agencies to serve as a Discharge Planning Task Force.Benchmark: Discharge Planning Task Force is appointed by first quarter 2008.
So how’s that plan coming, y’all? I haven’t heard another word. I guess I’ll believe it when I see it. And when Wesley Long and Cone stop discharging homeless people to the parking lot of my church. Because this is not the first time that’s happened. And I’m afraid it won’t be the last.
Popularity: 7% [?]
HUD Report: Housing First For The Homeless Mentally Ill
>> The Applicability of Housing First Models to Homeless Persons with Serious Mental Illness (PDF, 209 pages); U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Office of Policy Development and Research, July 2007
Popularity: 5% [?]
A Church For Kids In “Nicer-Looking” Houses
From Dayna, at Into The Hood:
“I recently met a new student at UNCG and was excited to hear that she had hooked up with a church in Glenwood that was starting a youth choir that would be open to neighborhood kids. Shortly after our initial discussion, she recruited volunteers to hand out flyers at InterVarsity. After IV, she asked me if I thought it was safe to go door to door. I assured her that it would be fine, and gave her a few pointers (i.e. avoid stray dogs, etc.). I asked her if they would provide transportation, as many of the parents either don’t have cars or work various shifts, so might not always be able to drop off/pick up their kids.
That’s when she shared something that broke my heart. The pastor had instructed the group of volunteers to go to the ‘nicer looking’ houses in the neighborhood…”
>> Keep reading.
Popularity: 8% [?]
2007 Crop Walk
The 2007 Greater Greensboro CROP Walk for hunger will be Sunday, October 14th. The walk begins and ends at First Horizon Park. Registration is at 1:30 p.m. and the walk begins at 2:30 p.m.
CROP Walk raises money for hunger here in our community and around the world. One fourth of the funds raised go to local programs, with the remainder going to worldwide hunger-fighting programs that emphasize empowerment, development and sustainability
>> Learn more about CROP Walk.
Popularity: 5% [?]
Cops Called On Bus Tour
>> See all my Bus Tour photos, with descriptions, here.
Who called the cops on the Bus Tour? Keep reading to find out…
Yesterday was the Greensboro Housing Coalition’s fourth annual Healthy Homes Bus Tour. The City inspections department issued rental occupany certificates for 7,000 units in the past year, for a total of 20,498 (out of about 32,000 rental units) thus far. There are 7,694 substandard housing units in Greensboro and in the past year, 3,120 abandoned vehicles were removed by the City and 52 condemned houses were demolished. (Stats from Butch Simmons, director of Engineering & Inspections Dept., City of G.)
I was on the “West” tour with tour guide Willena Cannon. We visited a home that had undergone lead remediation. The City just received a $10 million HUD grant to continue the lead program through 2010. Willena told us that some landlords have received as much as $20,000 in free lead remediation from grants.
We also drove by a formerly condemned Agapion property that has been completely renovated and looks like a new house. Willena told us that Agapion is “doing wonderful things.” Past tours had visited some of Agapion’s substandard properties, so it was nice to hear good news and see the results of ARCO’s hard work. The “East” tour visited another Agapion property and Beth McKee-Huger presented an award to Irene Agapion-Palermis. Kudos to ARCO!
We spent the most time at Brookfield Court apartments, where we’d been invited by residents to see their homes. They met us in the parking lot and described units that have mold, mildew, falling ceilings, busted floors, holes in the roof where the sky is visible from inside the apartment, pest control problems, windows that don’t close, a ceiling that fell on a child during a rainstorm, insect eggs growing under carpet, bugs and foul odors coming from a condemned unit, and glass in the swimming pool.
Residents also discussed other non-housing issues. One resident said police don’t come to the complex unless they have to and if they do, they don’t get out of their cars. Other residents disagreed, saying the police are always there, parking in the back of the complex, walking through the parking lot shining flashlights in car windows and “patting people down for no apparent reason.” When asked about crime at the complex, one resident talked about being “harassed” by cops — spoken to rudely and given a ticket leaving the complex. But in a private conversation, other residents discussed the gang problem at the complex. One said, “It’s bad. And another group of them just moved in.” We also heard that a gay couple at the complex has been targeted, harassed and even assaulted by others because of their sexuality.
Earlier this month, two Hispanic former residents filed a lawsuit against the owners and managers of Brookfield Court, alleging violations of the Fair Housing Act and discrimination, and describing living conditions that included “roach and rat infestations, unsanitary carpets, broken windows and unsanitary walls.” But based on similar stories that we heard from both black and white tenants, Brookfield doesn’t seem to discriminate.
As we boarded the buses to leave Brookfield, the cops showed up. Apparently, Brookfield’s manager objected to us talking to residents and visiting their homes, so she called the police, who came and spoke to Willena and the apartment manager. We were leaving anyway, but Willena pointed out that we were invited to be there. So they left and then we left. I wonder what would have happened if they had come while we were still walking around?
On the way back downtown, a lady from Wachovia talked about their partnership with GHC in helping low-income people to become homeowners through programs that can offer 100% financing and help for people with credit problems. And she said:
“If you’re paying $800 a month in rent, you’re paying a mortgage — it’s just not yours.”
Word.
City Council member Sandy Carmany wrote about the bus tour on her blog. She also has an exciting follow up! Butch had a long talk with the complex’s out-of-state owners this morning, and they’ve committed to come to Greensboro for a meeting, and to spend $3 million making repairs! Awesome! Great work, Butch!!
Thank you Beth and Willena and everyone else at Greensboro Housing Coalition for another great Healthy Homes Bus Tour! I look forward to the year when there will be no more substandard housing in Greensboro and we can tour nothing but healthy homes!
Political peeps who were on the tour:
City Council members: Sandy Carmany (that’s 1 of 9 for those of you who’re counting — I was!)
City Council candidates: Charles Coffey, Joel Landau, Mary Rakestraw, Donna Riechmann, Greg Woodard. Update: And also, Sidney Gray. (that’s 5 6 of 30-something)
Former mayors: Carolyn Allen
And then there were bloggers: Sandy and Lenslinger. (She was probably there “officially” and he was working, but still, it counts.)
>> News & Record story on the bus tour.
So, did my dramatic headline work? It was supposed to make you more likely to read the story. 
(And hey, it was true.)
Popularity: 6% [?]
Mental Health Parity Passes Senate
News Release from Mental Health Association in North Carolina:
U.S. Senate Passes Mental Health Parity
September 20, 2007 (Raleigh, NC) – Two days ago on September 18, the U.S. Senate made history by passing the Mental Health Parity Act (S. 558) by unanimous consent – an incredible victory for mental health! The bill provides full parity for mental illness and substance abuse. The House must still pass the bill before it goes to the President for signing.
The Mental Health Association in NC joins Mental Health America in commending the United States Senate for passing critical legislation to end mental health insurance discrimination, and its sponsors, Senators Pete Domenici (R-N.M.), Michael B. Enzi (R-Wyo.) and Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.) for their leadership. The bill – S. 558, the Mental Health Parity Act of 2007 – will ensure that Americans with employer-sponsored health insurance and their families receive mental health care coverage at the same level as coverage for general health problems. For details on the legislation and more information, go to www.equitycampaign.net.
The good news doesn’t stop there. Yesterday morning, the House Ways and Means Subcommittee on Health voted by a bipartisan 10-3 margin to approve H.R. 1424, the House version of parity legislation sponsored by Representatives Patrick Kennedy (D-RI) and Jim Ramstad (R-MN). While the House bill still must be approved by the full Ways and Means Committee as well as the Energy and Commerce Committee, this important test vote showed that support for parity is broad and bipartisan.
Mental Health America and its national network of affiliates now looks to members of the House to pass S. 558 and make history.
Popularity: 5% [?]
Lead, Crime & The Poor
Yesterday was the annual Healthy Homes Bus Tour. We heard a lot about lead poisoning. And I’ve been reading more on the web this morning. The relationship between lead poisoning and crime is disturbing.
There’s a “highly significant link between lead toxicity and the likelihood of criminal activity.” There’s a link between lead and ADHD. Between lead and alcoholism and substance abuse. Between lead and violent crime rates and unwed pregnancy rates. Between lead and homicide. Between lead and low IQ scores. Between lead and psychopathy.
Who gets lead poisoning? Poor children living in older homes are at the greatest risk. Poverty limits housing choices. And black and Hispanic children living in older homes have a disproportionately higher level of lead than white children in comparable housing.
In the United States, blacks are incarcerated at a disproportionately higher rate than whites. And blacks also have a disproportionately higher poverty rate than whites. Black children and poor children suffer the highest rate of lead toxicity in the U.S. Connect those dots.
I’m obviously not the first to make the connection, but why don’t we talk more about environmental factors when we’re talking about crime? The damage from lead poisoning is irreversible. Allowing children to live in toxic homes is setting them up for failure.
I encourage you to support the work of the Greensboro Housing Coalition and other organizations that do anti-poverty work.
Popularity: 7% [?]
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