Making a Difference
“Our job isn’t easy but making a difference in as many lives as we can is why we are here.”
By Kahlise Ward, Site Coordinator at the VA CRRC
After just recently celebrating my 2nd anniversary of working for the Harry Tompson Center, I reflected on the services that I have been able to bring to our clients. My goal every day is to give as many clients as I can a feeling of HOPE.
When clients are sleeping in shelters, under bridges, and on park benches day after day, it can diminish any small amount of hope that they may have. Giving them access to a shower, washing their clothes, or maybe just inviting them to the office so they can vent might be what they need at the moment. Sometimes, that is all it takes to make their journey a little easier. Connecting with the client starting with the initial intake is so important, especially when I am working on establishing trust on both ends. The housing process can be complicated with the requirements and rules that we have to abide by. Collecting homeless documentation can be one of the hardest things to accomplish. Shelters have limited nights that the clients can stay there, and spending nights on the streets can be dangerous. Many clients have to move around to try and stay safe.
During my first couple of months of working with The Harry Tompson Center, I met a gentleman by the name of Ernest. He was an established client from the previous case manager before me and also had been housed previously by UNITY. The most significant issues we encountered were minimal documentation, and if he started to feel discouraged, he would disappear for weeks at a time. Some clients won’t show any interest in going through the housing process. However, my heart told me that although Mr. Ernest was showing resistance, I shouldn’t give up on him. Months passed, and Mr. Ernest showed back up and had a lot of documents needed for the housing applications!
I was so excited. I didn’t waste any time to begin his application process. After the application was submitted, another roadblock hit us- His mental diagnosis wasn’t severe as it needed to be for housing. I never gave up, though, and I showed up at every meeting to make sure I was able to advocate for Mr. Ernest. Over time, slowly but surely he was getting smaller in size, and a cough from just a common cold became worse and worse.
After months of advocating, I was finally able to get Mr. Ernest a housing referral through Depaul USA, one of our community partners at the Rebuild Center. After a couple of weeks, Mr. Ernest had moved into his apartment, but he wasn’t staying there much.
It turns out that during this time, he was in and out of the hospital because what we thought was just a nasty cough from a cold was, in fact, stage 4 lung cancer. After being admitted into UMC Hospital for treatment, the Depaul staff and I made sure we saw Mr. Ernest as much as we could. For weeks we saw him every day. When I would walk through the door, the smile that would come to his face made me feel like I was helping relieve even just a little bit of his pain. I hoped that I was making this final journey a little easier. By this time, he had a new caseworker, and his file was “closed” within my caseload. However, he always made sure he told me, “You’re always going to be my caseworker”!
As his condition worsened, he left the hospital and entered into a Hospice facility. After a few weeks, he progressed more and more to the end. As a service professional, I tried not to attach myself emotionally, but at the end of the day, I am still human. On my last visit, it was two days after his birthday. He was in the actively dying stage.
I was able to sit there for about 3 minutes before I just had to walk out because it became too much. About 2 hours after I left, we received the news that Mr. Ernest had passed away. This was my first time going through the loss of a client, and it was harder than anything I could imagine. With support from the Rebuild staff, I was able to see the positive piece in this process. Although I will never see Mr. Earnest walk through my office door or hear his voice again, I will always have a place in my heart for him.
I can sleep at night knowing I did everything I could to get him housed, so he wasn’t suffering on the streets for his last few months. He was not alone during his final days; he was surrounded by love from all of us at the Rebuild Center and his family. Our job isn’t easy but making a difference in as many lives as we can is why we are here. I’m just grateful for the opportunity to get to do what I love every day.
