Many people read the Street Sense paper. But have you taken a look in the back, at page 15, where there are listings for the places where people can get help such as medical services, shelter and food, as well as places to take a bath or wash clothes? This may not be important to people who don’t need help, but for the people who want help, it is a Godsend.
There are all kinds of reasons people live on the street. Some have mental illness. Some have criminal issues. Some have burned all their bridges. Some have let drink and drunkenness rule their lives to the point where they are forced to live on the street. I have talked to people who “live” on the street who can’t speak a word of English, who struggle to survive each day. The services on the back page can be a life-line for people.
At times, I have had to use the back page to help myself and others. I had a friend who was schizophrenic. I met her in a Maryland women’s shelter in 2012. She had family ,but she did not want to live with them because sometimes she wouldn’t take her meds. So she ended up in a shelter. When you are in a shelter, they make sure you take your meds if you want them. But they can’t make you take them if you don’t want to.
Anyway, I’d see her on the street off and on. Each time, she looked more and more disarranged. So I started talking to her. She started talking confusingly to me, like people were after her or the sidewalk was talking to her and so on. It got to the point where I was so concerned that I asked her if she would go in a shelter like before to get help. She replied no. The next time, I asked if she would like to go home with me. Then she became upset and ran away.
I did not see her for a while, but she stayed on my mind. Then to my surprise, I found her lying on the sidewalk in the middle of the day. When she didn’t respond, I called the 1-800 shelter hotline from the back page of Street Sense. Within twenty minutes, the police came and so did the shelter people. The police told her she couldn’t lie in the sidewalk. She had to get up and, since she was confused, she agreed to go to a shelter and get help. This pleased me because the next time I saw her, she was clean, looked good, and was not confused. She explained to me that she stopped taking her meds and that was what had made her come apart and unable to care for herself.
Another time I used the back page was to help a man that I did not know. Week after week I noticed him lying on the street. When it started to get cold and the temperature was below freezing two or three days in a row, I began to worry. I approached him to ask if he was alright. He pulled the blankets off and it turned my stomach. I think he had feces on his face and body. He yelled, “Go away, I’m ok”. I called the mental help line from the back page and they explained they would check on him. I’m going to call them back to see if he was helped. But, thank God, there is a back page of help in Street Sense.
