Received a call yesterday from a social worker at one of our major hospitals here in Dallas.
She described the plight of a homeless man hospitalized in the end stages of colon cancer. The man needs nursing care as he travels through the last days of his life. The hospital and the social worker are attempting to find the care he needs. Hospice has agreed to take him as a patient at no cost, but he must find a place to live.
A complicating factor relates to his social security number. The one he has does not match the name linked to it in government records. Those charged with his care are working on that as well. The man was born in New York, so, for the record, he is not an undocumented immigrant.
The man's request is to simply find a safe, clean place to step out of this world into the next. We'll keep working on that, possibly in one of our buildings or in a nursing facility that will work with us. I'm grateful to the social worker and to the hosptial for taking care of this forgotten, dying man who is so very alone.
His situation reminds me of the difficulty so many face today as they try to make it through life on our streets.
4 comments:
He's just now finding out there is something wrong with his SS number??
Evidently. The issues facing chronically homeless persons escape the comprehension of most of us who've never had the problem. Clearly, this man has never tried to access any public benefits. He ended up in the hospital ER because that was his only option. Thanks to the "heart and mission" of the hospital, he has the measure of comfort that he now "enjoys." Who knows, he may have forgotten his number, lost his card or had it stolen, etc. Life on the streets is no picnic.
Wonder if he ever worked under that number?
It is staggering to consider that your final wish could simply be a soft place to die.
God help us move this world towards greater proactive compassion...
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