Commissioner Gibson brings County department heads to hear from homeless residents
posted: February 26, 2008 | category: community, homelessness
tags: homeless news, policy, politics
Guilford County Commissioner Paul Gibson returned to dine and dialogue with homeless folks at the downtown library on Monday evening, and this week, he brought along a team of folks to join the conversation — Director Merle Green and Asst. Director Ken Carter from Public Health; Exec. VP Tim Clontz from Moses Cone/HealthServe; Transportation Director Mark Kirstner; Asst. Directors Debra Moore, Steve Hayes and Jenise Davis from DSS; Brenda Spach from Veterans Services; and Joe Fortin from Guilford Center.
A gentleman asked about transportation to work and Kirstner told him about a county program that provides “24-hour employment-related transportation… [to] help with job training and a few months after that while you get yourself stable.” Kirstner gave details about how the program works and provided a phone number to call for service.
A young woman asked about cleanliness — homeless people have little or no access to bathrooms, showers or laundry facilities. There are few public restrooms. There is one shower at the Hospitality House on Arlington Street, and it’s only available from 4:30 a.m. until 8:00 a.m. on some weekdays. I’m not aware of any free laundry facilities. Green had an idea about possibly providing showers at locations where homeless people go for meals, and she asked for more information so that she could explore the idea further.
Green also urged those in attendance to get on the waiting list for the County’s new dental clinic on Friendly Avenue: “There is a waiting list but go ahead and get on it… We will need a way to get in contact with you. It may take a couple of months for your name to get to the top of the list… If you’re in bad pain, there’s an opportunity for you to be worked in earlier.”
Jen Worrells asked if there was a way to make the information about the dental clinic public. Green replied: “I want everybody to know that the services that are available are packed. Sometimes we purposely stop advertising.” Paul Gibson then commented, “If we’ve got a backlog that large, then maybe at budget time, we need to take a look at this.”
There was further discussion about the need for a day center, and the need to simplify the process of receiving assistance from homeless service providers, as well as making the process more respectful to homeless people. There was discussion about “draconian” rules at shelters, which rob homeless people of their dignity. One gentleman noted that the needs of the homeless have primarily been funneled through specific service providers and “that isn’t working — there need to be alternatives.”
One young woman suggested that homeless people who are able to work should “get a job” and not “abuse the system.” But others spoke of wanting to work and not being able to find jobs — because of their homelessness, criminal history, etc.
One gentleman questioned HealthServe’s practice of charging indigent clients with zero income a $6.00 co-pay on each visit. Clontz responded that they could still receive service, even if they couldn’t pay. So I followed up and asked what was the point of charging the co-pay? Clontz seemed to agree that there really wasn’t a reason to charge it. Hands all over the room went up in response to the question, “How many have had difficulty accessing services at HealthServe?” I was encouraged to hear from Clontz that recent changes have been made to simplify the system and that he is aware that more needs to be done. (Update: Clontz offers solution to issues with eligibility and co-pays. Read it here.)
Another gentleman asked the County folks to pass around the heavy backpack that he carries with him everywhere he goes, so that they could get a sense of how tired he is after lugging it on his back all day long. And he pointed out that everyone who sees him with his bag knows that he is homeless — which often affects how he is treated.
One of the ideas that came out of the evening’s dialogue was to have homeless people operate a day center, like this self-governing daytime shelter and resource center in Milwaukee. Repairers of the Breach aims “to bring forth homeless people to act collectively to change the present conditions under which they live, through advocacy/education and direct action.”
Thank you to Paul Gibson and all of the County folks who came out on Monday evening. It was very much appreciated!
Stay tuned… 
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3 Responses to “Commissioner Gibson brings County department heads to hear from homeless residents”
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Thanks for the detailed report, Michele, even if it’s not as sexy as Wray vs. Mitch Round 17,000. It’s so fascinating and infuriating that the county has free dental services that they don’t advertise because they’re already swamped. I can actually commiserate. I was supposed to get a molar removed, but my copay was not enough to be covered by my employer-based insurance, but too much for me to afford out of pocket. I decided the stress of figuring out how to pay for it is a lot worse than the actual tooth problem. Guess I’ll just get in line with everybody else.
“…even if it’s not as sexy as Wray vs. Mitch Round 17,000.”
LOL.
“It’s so fascinating and infuriating that the county has free dental services that they don’t advertise because they’re already swamped.”
I totally understand. We don’t do a lot of advertising about NightWatch because we already can’t get to all the places we need to go every week. And when I was doing Grace’s CARE Ministry, we didn’t advertise, and we still had more people than we could help, just through word of mouth.
Sorry about your tooth. As Merle Green said on Monday night, go get on the waiting list!
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