Daily Archives: May 11, 2013

Grief and Anger are appropriate, but we can also do something

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When I blogged about Dave’s death earlier today, I didn’t realize there was an article on Madison.com about the homeless man’s death yesterday. It captured some of the grief and anger of those who had helped him during his last days.

I doubt very much whether there will be a follow-up article but here are the questions that I would ask if I were writing one.  They are questions we all should demand answers to.

  1. What was the cause of death? Was it related either to his recent hospitalization or to the medications he was taking?
  2. What are the arrangements for his funeral and burial?
  3. Did the Janesville hospital know (or care) whether he was homeless when they released him after surgery? Did they provide transportation for him to Madison?
  4. Do other hospitals in the region send discharged patients to Madison’s shelters? (It wouldn’t surprise me; I know jails and prisons do).
  5. How many patients are released from Madison hospitals directly to the homeless shelters? (They must know; mail is regularly sent from the hospitals to shelter guests).
  6. How many more people will die before we come up with a solution to this long-term problem?

Feeding the State Street Family’s facebook feed tells the story of the heroic efforts to help Dave.

 

 

A man died on Thursday night in a homeless shelter in Madison.

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So, I saw a request on Thursday on Feeding the State Street Family’s facebook page. A blind, homeless guy needed help, specifically transportation to get him to an appointment that might eventually lead to housing. He got that help, made it to the appointment but was told to come back the next day. He spent the night in the homeless shelter. In the morning, we heard that someone died overnight in one of the shelters. A call to the coroner revealed that it was him. He had recently been in the hospital for hernia surgery and was released with his medications.

Once again, the “system” has failed someone. No, it’s not the system–it’s us. Of course all sorts of institutions bear responsibility for this: a medical system that releases patients on to the street who can’t take care of themselves; governments that cut funding, social service providers and their employees who are overburdened, under-funded, and demoralized. But the bottom line is, we are responsible for this. A society that refuses to care for those in greatest need, a society that refuses to treat everyone with dignity and provide basic services for the sick, the homeless, the hungry, is a society that is rotten at its core.

As I’ve mentioned before, we’ve begun conversations in Madison about a medical shelter. How many more people will die before that dream becomes a reality?

A man died on Thursday night in a homeless shelter in Madison. He died alone. Who mourns for him? Who mourns for us?