Local
Agencies Reach Out
by
Katarina Brkic
As bitter temperatures linger throughout
Northeast Ohio, homeless people have found support through many local agencies
and their outreach efforts which are lending help to those in need.
The PATH program, Projects and Assistance Transition from
Homelessness, overseen through Mental Health Services, has focused on the needs
of the homeless since the late 1980’s.
David Bound, program director, has led PATH for the past ten years, and
primarily deals specifically with mentally disabled homeless individuals.
PATH’s main goal is to locate mentally disabled cases
and bring them in to seek psychiatric help, or hospitalization if necessary.
Outreach workers will search shelters and scan the streets for mentally
challenged individuals, who are often battling many mental issues, including
clinical schizophrenia. The incoherent state of these individuals disable them from
making logical decisions, like seeking shelter when temperatures are unbearably
cold. The mentallly ill
sometimes fail to think rationally, which eventually makes them a threat
to themselves. The threat of loss
of limbs due to frostbite or many other illnesses that come from being outside
are all preventable with early intervention.
Once an outreach worker locates a case, they begin what
is called the “engagement process.” The
worker will begin to form a relationship with the individual in an attempt to
gain the individual’s trust so that help will be received rather then
rejected. The individual is
then advised on certain hygiene issues, and directed toward psychiatric help,
hospitalization and meds if needed. The
program will search for help with benefits or eligibility for Medicaid and they
provide basic resources and housing. With
a successful transition and stabilization, the client is then passed through to
a Safe Haven and case management.
According to Bound, the strongest point of the program is
“the flexibility of the program”, the ability to pursue homeless cases with
no time constraints. The ability to
take the time needed for each unique case results in success. However, when asked about weaknesses Bound claims, “that
sometimes there is just not enough time, and certain individuals will come back
through the program.” Follow up
services will continue after the person is housed, but sometimes they refuse
continual treatment and a worker will then begin again from square one trying to
help.
Volunteers
of America
Another agency offering outreach is Volunteers of America
Northeast and North Central Ohio, which has served those in need for over a
century. The mission statement at
VOA “To aid and uplift humankind” is the backbone to numerous efforts and
assistance conducted through members of VOA.
With many facilities and programs throughout Northeast and North Central
Ohio, the VOA Cleveland Walton Avenue Homeless Program Facility is the one that
leads VOA’s effort to assist Cleveland’s homeless.
In late January due to harsh winter conditions, the
Walton Ave. 86-bed men’s facility was booked solid.
As January was one of the coldest months this winter the facility was
delighted to receive a shipment of 1,000 blankets from the Army Surplus in
Philadelphia to help battle the cold temperatures. One young occupant expressed his gratitude for the
shelter that has given him a place as a haven
while he makes his adjustment from New York to Cleveland.
The Walton Facility is a men’s shelter that helps
those, like the young man from New York, get back on their feet and help
individuals become self-sufficient. They
tend to the homeless through three different shelter programs; street outreach,
learning and health-related programs. The
facility also has an emergency shelter program providing 20 beds to those in
need, a transitional housing program, a holiday meal program, and other
programs.
The VOA mobile outreach and referral program actively
seeks homeless people five days and nights a week.
According to Lyle Draper, VOA’s shelter director, the program provides
immediate assistance to homeless men. The
program gives access to the facility and if those accommodations are refused
then blankets, comfort, and a Street Card that lists all the free goods, or a
hot cup of coffee and where they are distributed.
According to Draper, operation at the VOA Walton Ave.
shelter runs smoothly and with success but volunteers are always welcomed in
order to serve the huge number of people. All
types of donations are accepted and most are given back to those in need.
Veterans
Affairs Outreach
The homeless veterans are also provided with many support
outlets through the numerous outreach efforts of the Veterans Administration.
With a third of homeless males being veterans, the VA activities are
extensive. In collaboration with
other agencies the VA workers are able to provide needed help to veterans.
According to VA member Pat Tomcho, VA staff members are
placed in numerous locations. Currently
there are 3 VA members at Mental Health Services to tend to the mental veterans,
4 VA staff permanently placed at the 2100 Lakeside Salvation Army Men’s
Shelter, 4 people responsible for street outreach, and 2 outreach workers
concentrate on women veterans. The
ability to collaborate with other agencies has allowed the VA to better tend to
the veterans, like providing beds especially set aside for veterans at chosen
locations.
According to Tomcho, VA’s outreach programs work with
other agencies and work to build capability in order to respond to needs as they
surface. As a result, the VA’s
decision to outplace staff has succeeded in more efficiently responding to the
needs of the veterans according to Tomcho.
Without the efforts of the dedicated men and women and
the coordination of the services, many more people would be lost on the streets
alone and disenfranchised. However,
the need of the homeless continue to increase and each agency pledges to work
together to provide quick and effecient service to those on the streets.
Copyright
to the Northeast Ohio Coalition for the Homeless and the Homeless Grapevine
Cleveland Ohio 2004.