The following article is one in a continuing series of short profiles about homeless adults who transitioned from the streets to independent housing. Thanks to the Downtown Homeless Services Team, managed and funded by the BID, more homeless persons in Downtown are getting a new lease on life. The Team, a group of on-the-street professionals headquartered at Pathways to Housing DC, does remarkable work engaging with homeless individuals every day where they are in the community, to build rapport and trust. Using a pragmatic, street-to-independence outreach program called Housing First, the BID partners with the DC government and non-profit homeless services providers to bring outreach services, housing, and dignity to homeless adults while improving comfort and security for Downtown workers, residents, and visitors. The following success story is a result of this special partnership:
Bill was a 62-year-old mentally ill homeless man who lived on Downtown streets for at least 10 years, loitering in Franklin Square Park and in the areas of 14th and I streets and 13th and G streets, always with two trash bags in tow. Clad in a dingy tan coat, blue jeans and tan boots, he frequented the McDonalds located at 13th and G streets and 13th and New York Avenue but rarely spoke. When he did speak, it was to talk about a court case and attempts to return to Atlanta, Georgia.
The Downtown Homeless Services Team tried numerous strategies to engage Bill, but the mental illness got in the way—he resisted all services. Not until he started to complain about an infection in his feet and chest, and his deteriorating gait became evident, did the outreach team get the opportunity to take steps to treat Bill’s mental and physical condition. It completed an application for emergency hospitalization, a measure only undertaken for individuals who are a danger either to themselves or to others. Bill was taken to the emergency room at George Washington University Hospital for medical evaluation. The GW doctors concluded that he had a severe infection in his feet as well as a foot ulcer and scabies. He was admitted immediately.
The outreach team visited often to check on his status and to develop a discharge plan. Following a psychiatric evaluation, Bill was deemed unfit to refuse medical treatment, so the hospital began treating the infection and scabies, and tried locating his family members. The hospital found his son, who lived in Florida, and sister, who resided in South Carolina. Both visited him at the hospital and signed off on the recommended treatment. The adult son had not seen his father since the son was 15-years-old.
The outreach team met with the family members, sharing knowledge about their relative as well as discharge options. The sister agreed to take her brother to South Carolina after the antibiotics cleared the infection, but he still needed several weeks of physical therapy to rehabilitate his feet. The outreach team jumped in and, in concert with the family and GW hospital staff members, developed a plan to have him sent to a rehabilitation facility and then to South Carolina. The team continued to visit until Bill was transferred to his new home, where he has been since April, happily reconnected with family.