I woke up at my girlfriend’s apartment around 7:00 a.m. and around 7:30 I got my stuff together and got ready for work.
I arrived at work at 8:30 a.m. shortly after I received a call from the intake coordinator from the methadone clinic, who was with Mary, a client that lives under the bridge. Mary wanted a shelter bed but we do not have any available. Mary struggles with severe SUD, I suggested treatment options, and we will explore shelter options next week.
Afterwards I spoke with the new guest Winston who’s been living in the emergency room for quite some time now, a few months anyhow, about sleeping in a chair at night at the shelter, which was reported by night staff. Winston was very apologetic and promised not to sleep in a chair at night and sleep on his mattress on the floor.
After the discussion with Winston around 10:30 a.m. The Young Shelter worker, who is the son of the CEO of the company I work for, and myself drove Winston to the clinic on Haverhill Street where he needed to get his medication. It was going to take some time so we left him there and he would call once he was finished. On the way back to the shelter the young shelter worker and myself stopped at McDonald’s to engage with the homeless people that hang out there and smoke crack and shoot fentanyl. There was a group of about eight homeless people hanging around the stoop of an abandoned building next to McDonald’s. I talked to the people, and got some names and asked if anyone needed services. Later the young shelter worker told me that one of the individuals pulled a knife on him. I did see one gentleman that had a knife, money, and drugs in one of his hands. This is a common practice for a lot of street people, I’ve seen it everywhere I’ve gone. I’m not sure if the individual actually brandished the knife or if the young shelter worker just saw it.
When The Young Shelter Worker and I returned back to the shelter we got word from The shelter housing coordinator that Miguel, a previous shelter guest with schizophrenia, had left the CBHC CCS unit at 12 Methuen Street, a psych ward and was wandering the streets. The Young shelter Worker, the shelter guest who saw Mauricio, and myself went to pick up Brian from the CBHC, their outreach worker, and we looked from Miguel at the last place he was seen under a bridge. He was not there, so we drove around looking for Mauricio but did not find him. I brought The shelter worker and the shelter guest back to the shelter, and Brian and I continued to look for Mauricio. We were unable to locate him so I brought Brian back to the CBHC (community behavioral Health Center)
I returned back to the shelter, and I left again with a shelter worker named Kennedy to go pick up Winston at the clinic. When we returned back to the shelter I put some drinks in the truck and I met up with The Outreach worker from the methadone clinic. We drove over to the encampments along the river behind Doyle Street. We engaged with Tony, Harry, and I encountered Peter in a tent and he was passed out and his breathing was shallow. I called out his name and he did not wake up, so I shook his foot and he woke up but he seemed like he was highly intoxicated, most likely on fentanyl. I was able to communicate with him and get him sitting in a video game chair that was in the large tent he was in. Now he was in an upright position. He was cognizant but he was disoriented. He was not overdosing and he could not report last time of use. He could not respond to my questions about medical care or any further treatment, but he was responsive and he was able to communicate a little bit. After sitting with him for about half an hour I asked the other people in the encampment to keep an eye on him. I drove The Outreach worker from the methadone clinic back to the harm reduction Center where his car was, and I picked up a box of Narcan from the harm reduction clinic.
I drove back to the shelter and did paperwork. At 4:00 p.m. I received a call from Sean, an individual that was going into treatment from the faith-based homeless day shelter last week. He has a service dog and was discharged from Recovery Centers of America because a worker at the detox claimed the dog growled at them and he called me. I worked with the outreach worker from a local Detox to coordinate care for Sean and I sent him a list of all the various detoxes that would take his MassHealth tufts insurance. He’s going to work over the weekend to coordinate a bed for himself so that he can go back into treatment. Sean is the man that had a romantic relationship with The self supporting Outreach worker I met at the faith based homeless day shelter.
At 5:30 I wrapped up my work day.
When I left work I drove up to New Hampshire to spend the weekend with my friend Mike at his newly renovated cabin near North Conway. It took me about 2 hours to drive up there and shortly after I arrived Mike, my lifelong friend, arrived with his cousin Joey, who I’ve also known most of my life. We hung around and had a great night. We watched two movies: Civil war, and The Beekeeper.
