Fire Station
My friend Michelle learned of Mark's situation and my futile attempts with various officials to help him. She bolted into instant action like only she can and reached out to an acquaintance working for a city agency tasked with alleviating the homeless crisis.
The acquaintance told her to call 2-1-1. Michelle told her about my frustrating experience with 2-1-1 and shared my written documentation of the bullshit . The acquaintance said she would bring it up with staff at a future meeting. Oh great, I made an agenda!
Michelle decided to call 2-1-1 to test the system. Here's what happened in her words:
I was put in contact after a short wait with a very helpful gentleman who really was great about giving some direction. I explained the situation about Mark in detail to him and he was empathetic and eager to help. We spoke for over ten minutes.
He texted me the long term shelters. Good news—he new SW Portland one on Multnomah Blvd allows people to reside for up to two years AND there is no drug or alcohol ban. I went ahead and called them myself and there is NO WAIT right now. In order to have Mark evaluated, you can take him to a fire station, rather than call 9-1-1 and then they can do the evaluation and have them report it in to the Joint Office of Homeless Services
Michelle emailed me the list of shelters with immediate availability. I constructed and printed out a handout of this list and information about an assessment/referral at fire station for Mark and other members of the club to consult. Perhaps we would all engage on the issue at our next meeting.
But first, I wanted to investigate whether or not EMTs at fire stations were assessing homeless people and then providing referrals. This process seemed highly dubious to me. I hadn't read a thing about it in hundreds of articles about the homeless crisis in Portland.
So I walked to the Sellwood fire station six blocks away in 95-degree heat to find out for myself.
I pressed the buzzer at the main entrance. A young fireman answered and opened the top half of a door. There was a screen between us. I explained my presence. After my explanation, he looked incredulous. We then engaged in a 15-minute conversation.
Th gist of his end was:
No! No! We don't make assessments here. I've never heard of anything like this. If you had brought him here, we couldn't of done anything.
No, you shouldn't call 9-1-1 on his behalf. He shouldn't either. That is for medical emergencies. If someone is passed out, administer to them, call out, try to get a response. Half the time we arrive, the person jumps up and walks away.
By the time we concluded our conversation, he had ventured outside to face me.
I conveyed to the EMT my increasing level of frustration trying to help Mark. No one seemed to know anything. Everything was ignorance, misinformation or contradiction.
“No one communicates with anyone,” he said.
I thanked him for his efforts. He thanked me for caring and trying to help. He used the word citizen. Don't stop what you're trying to do, he said.
To recap:
Mark needs an assessment before receiving a possible referral but can't schedule one without an appointment that requires him to travel to downtown Portland to schedule one for the later assessment. He just can't walk in off the streets without an appointment to try and get off the streets. I don't even know where to go for such an assessment/referral because the information is nowhere to be found.
I can't call the county's Joint Office of Homeless Service directly because there is no such number listed on its web site. I am instructed to call 2-1-1.
Mark can't call 9-1-1 to receive an assessment because EMTs don't conduct such assessments. He can't call 2-1-1 and request a sidewalk visit from an homeless outreach worker because no such program exists. He can't call anyone because he has no phone.
I can't transport him to a shelter with an opening because he has to have a referral and they don't conduct assessments/make referrals on site. I can't call the city's mental health crisis emergency Street Response Team because Mark never exhibits any symptoms of extreme mental illness, just an extreme illness of the existential variety. I was informed the Street Response Team might respond in 1-4 hours if was a non emergency.
It was obvious what I had to do next—go straight to the top.
But where was that?
On my walk home I detoured to Mark's sidewalk and saw him and Donny splayed across the concrete, passed out, blocking pedestrian traffic. They never ended up this way six months ago.
And no, I didn't go roust them and see how they were. I already knew.