Beside the Golden Door: Policy, Politics, and the Homeless by James Wright explores multiple theories of homelessness, problems that homeless face, and characteristics of the homeless population. In the chapter “Health and Health Status” the failure for homeless people to go to their medical appointments is discussed. Most homeless people do not keep a calendar, so “please come back next Thursday” has no meaning because Thursday has no meaning. In addition, transportation is another issue due to time and money. Homeless people are required to stand in line for most goods and services. Wright gives an example of a homeless client who has an 11:00 A.M. appointment; this homeless person might have to decide between eating at a soup kitchen or going to the appointment. In addition, giving a diabetic homeless person clean syringes for daily insulin injections can invite criminal victimization.
When I worked with CareerWise, a nonprofit that teaches job skills to homeless clients in Orange County, I experienced the failure for clients to meet appointments. Often times the client would not come or would be late. Transportation provided an additional obstacle due to the lack of funds. If the client was in a transitional program they were often able to get money for the bus from their case manager, but their low self-esteem sometimes prevented them from doing so.
I found these questions to be a truthful portrait of the health complications that homeless people face:
What is gained by sterile dressings on the wounds or leg ulcers of a man who sleeps in the gutter? What is the point of prescribing medication when many homeless people have trouble finding a drink of water with which to take their pills, or when the pills themselves are frequently ground down to dust after only a few days simply from being carried around in one’s pocket? What is the point of recommending a low-salt diet to a homeless hypertensive when beans, hot dogs, and potato chips are the soup kitchen’s daily fare? What, even, is the point of telling a homeless emphysemic women to quit smoking when cigarettes are the woman’s only remaining pleasure in life (Wright 171).
The questions posed by Wright illustrate the multiple problems that homeless people face. Wright encourages the reader to reflect on the questions above.
* Beside the Golden Door: Policy, Politics, and the Homeless by James Wright can be purchased on Amazon.
*To volunteer with CareerWise email: careerwise.ks@gmail.com