Baffled in Berkeley: the saga continues

[Guest guest]

In San Francisco, they took away any cash payment to the homeless or

to street people. They had a separate measure which, had it also pas

sed, given these same people housing, food and shelter and a small

amount of " discretionary " spending cash. The separate measure failed. I am

in San Francisco often and my sense is that many of these

people would readily qualify for HUD housing, State Housing Authority

Housing, SSI (Supplemental Security Insurance--not the same as Social

Security, but administered by the same agency.) Many would no

doubt qualify for placement in group homes. The one that really got to

me was a young man of about 24 who had a sign around his neck say

ing that he was homeless, orphaned and starving and had cystic fibrosis. So,

as I was on my way to a city hospital anyway, I took him to

the cf clinic of my choice in San Francisco where they did the following:

1) got him enrolled in the California State Program for the Geneticly

Handicapped;

2) got him on California's version of Medicaid, Medi-Cal;

3) admitted him for treatment and bathed him and got him clothes;

4) have found a group home for him until it can be determined whether

he can be restored to sufficient health to work at all; he can probably

stay there indefinitely, if need be.

5) The hospital established that his statements were correct: he is or

phaned, though an adult, has no other living relatives that he knows of,

is a California resident by birth and does have cystic fibrosis;

6) Call me crazy, but I accepted his request that I have durable power

of attorney over his medical care, should that be needed; he signed a

form that I be treated as a relative in relation to him;

7) The center is honoring this; his first language was Spanish, though

his English is very good;

8) It has been established by his doctor that he has a bachelor's degree

in chemistry, and has been too ill to do anything significant since recei

ving it and did not know his rights in this state or this nation;

Deduction: elections do not determine all human behavior; it is a pure

fluke that I passed him; he was standing on a divider in the middle of

a busy street; I read the sign, said, " Please get in, " and took him to

lunch, as he said he had not eaten anything in four days. He ate two

lunches and happily accepted my donated enzymes, drank two shakes!

I am posting this not because I care to have my deeds noticed. THAT

IS NOT THE POINT! The point is that had this young man EVER known

anyone who had told him his personal and medical rights in this state,

he would NEVER have gotten in the plight he is in.

So, I say, share what you know about " the system; " you just never know

who might need that knowledge.

n Rojas, who knows that, no matter what their problems, there are

thousands like this person in every city. And had I not been a poor stu

dent many years ago, I might never have given street people a thought,

but once, a long time ago, I rented a room and lived on Tea, canned

milk and bananas until my college opened for the fall--I had a scholar

ship that took care of me nicely for 9.5 months of the year, and was not

always able to work then. This happened Wednesday, today, when I

got to " escape " for some lab tests. You just never know! M.