I want to throttle someone.

Wednesday, February 28, 2007

Dave.
Most of you know Malach the internet celebrity, some of you know Malach out of cyberspace. Malach is the Director of Disability Services for a very large non-profit in SouthEastern, MA. Malach is very good at his job, and gets refferred a ton of cleints. Recently I have even been chosen to do a number of presentations about what I do, and the company I work for, to our funding sources, and was filmed for a national Catholic Charities campaign (one of our funding sources). I might post the film here when I get a copy. We will see.

So, Malach is now dealing with the most frustrating case he has had to deal with in the 10+ years I have been working disability services. I was going to try and protect the client, but the client is so famous/infamous in the Greater New Bedford Area, I can't, but I did change his name so I won't get sued. Most people will immediatley recognize this guy. Dave is a homeless gentlemen with a traumatic brain injury (TBI). He lives in various places: The Capri Motel, the area around Coffin and Acushnet Avenue, with whomever will give him a room. He is not nessecarily bound to a wheelchair but uses one fairly extensively. He can be typically found hanging on the corner, flashing the peace sign to passing pedestrians and motorists. Much is of his day is spent hanging out, chilling with his homies. Unfortunatley that makes him a public nusiance, and he occasionally like to light up a joint right on the street.

Dave, was a very troubled youth, and "real bad dude", in his own words, before his TBI. He was a small time drug dealer, a thug, and would not hesitate to jump some random guy to steal his money. At age 19, he was a passenger in a motor vehicle vs. large boulder accident; he was not wearing a seatbelt. Injuries resulting from the accident included massive damage to his frontal lobe, part of which had to be removed. After 3 months in a coma, and two years of rehabilitation, Dave was left with severe balance and motor control issues in his lower extremities, and right side of the body, and a functioning IQ of around 85 (Boderline Intellectual functioning). Dave was immediatley put on SSDI, recieved rehabilitation services from MRC, and went home. This was 20 years ago.

To make a long story short. Dave's family, was less than capable of caring for Dave. His brothers were all gang bangers, and nowadays they are either dead, in jail or about to go to jail. Dave's mother (never knew Father) couldn't handle him, proceeded to take his settlement's from the accident, blow it all on drugs, and kick him out of the house. So needless to say Dave has spent the last 15 years, going from apartment, to the streets, to rooms, to hotel rooms, to the streets. Dave has been and out of jail, mainly for possession or marijuana. Dave got a rep payee about 8 years ago, which has helped stabilize his money issues but not his life.

Sowhere does Malach come in? As Dave has gotten older, his life has steadily gone down a downward sprial. Over the past 3 years, not only has Dave been chronically homeless, he has been arrested for possession 4 times and once for public exposure (urinating). The basic MO is as follows. Dave find a place to live (he can afford it), because of his mental fuctioning he becomes lonely and unable to do typical living skills. So he invites everyone off the street to come live with him, who more than take advantage of him. Either the house is overcrowded or the people he invites are big time dealers, so he gets evicted. Since he is known across the city as a possible dealer, and health hazard, landlords are leery to rent to him.

So several organizations have tried to take him on as a case over the past 5 years. Either Dave did not want the help, so they dropped; these organizations couldn't find any resources and dropped him; or they found a landlord to take him in and then drop him. Needless to say, in that time, Dave has not only burned a number of bridges with homelessness providers, he has the police, local businesses, and local politicians pissed off and annoyed with him. Again he does get arrested a number of time, but the corrections systems have no idea what to do with him, so let him go. He has spent no more than a week in jail.

So in October he came to Malach. At that time, he was homeless and on probabition. He had been homeless for close to a year. When the new Mayor came into office, solving Dave was a first priority for him, and the Mayor called Malach's boss, which turn made it Malach's poject. So right away Malach find out a few things.

1. Dave can not only afford an apartment, since he is been homeless for so long, he could probably afford a mortgage, and has a pretty good sum of money saved up.
2. Dave does not qualify for DMH services, the city had him committed and the found no finding, not surprisingly.
3. Dave does not qualfiy for DMR services, again not surprisingly.
4. While Dave does qualify for HUD based housing for the homeless, the local agency that does single men, refuse him entrance becuase of the amount of services he might need, and his drug use (they deal with mostly Herion and Crack addicts there).

That is about the extent of what previous organization have tried with him. So, Malach, works with his rep payee, and get him a hotel room for the time being. Malach immiediately recognizes that the only services Dave would qualify for is MRC-SHIP whch of course none of the other local service agencies were even familiar with. SHIP will not only provide him with housing, but staffing, and life skill training; what he really needs. In addtion, they can provide him with the Health Services he also needs and help him with his descision making. Ok, so MRC is slow moving organization taking anywhere from 3 - 6 months to get a client serviced. Malach not only applied locally, he applies directly to SHIP. In the meatime, in an effort to save Dave some money . . I got him a placement at our men's shelter in Tauton, a placement that took about a month to get. Needless to say, Dave was not happy there being away from his city and people, after about 2 weeks, he hopped a bus back to New Bedford, and once again was homeless. Still had not heard from MRC, so I began calling their Boston Main Office and began the MRC runaround.

It took no more than a day, for Clyde to find someone to rent a room to him. Malach was leery, but he stayed there for another month, all the while I was lighting (or trying tolight) a fire under MRC's ass. Of course the guy who rented the room was busted for selling crack, and the landlord purged the apatement; Dave was homeless again. Malach get's him back to the Capri, square one.

It has been 3 months now since submitting his application to MRC, and no matter who I call or speak too, they don't seem to get it. I am EXTREMELY frustrated, and so is Dave. I have tried everything. Public Housing/Disability (can't go, criminal record). Dave is awesome guy, he just needs the help. GET OFF YOUR ASS MRC!

I am Malach and Dave reconnects me to the street.