Soaring with poverty and homelessness, the City of Philadelphia stands with open arms for policy makers and social workers to do the magic. On my quick 15 min walk from train station to office everyday, I see a lot of homeless people. Out of everybody, there is this one strikingly different person. He usually sits at a constant spot on the sidewalk and is always engrossed in reading books. He has a ‘homeless-anything helps’ placard to his side with a couple of ruffled bags. Most of the days I smile at him, he smiles back, and I go about my day. On a few days, we used to have minimal conversations and my Nutribars used to slip into his pockets. Today I was walking by and I almost didn’t recognise him. He had a clean shave. My curious nerves started tickling. I almost went a couple of steps ahead, came back, pulled out my earphones and gestured with my hand asking why the new look and clean shave. I thought it was because of the Thanksgiving season. “Ooh, it’s not for thanksgiving. You see this?”, he said pointing towards a fresh long cut that had around 8 stitches on the right side of his throat. He told me he had an infection in his glands and to prevent further damage to his body, he had to get a surgery done to have them removed. The immediate question I had for him was how he paid for the surgery – insurance, assistance, and before I finished my question, he jumped in and said Medicaid!
For a second, the world paused for me. A lot of times, sitting in the high rise buildings, taking multiple stakeholder meetings, looking at statistics, making policies for social welfare, often we go far away from the on-ground impact. Mere numbers don’t always inspire us to do work around social welfare. It is the anecdotes that do the magic. These stories are extremely powerful in driving us. They deliver the message on how an entire army of people come together, design policies, provide medical facilities, to ensure the welfare of disadvantaged people. This is what gives us hope.
He went on saying how he didn’t know what would have happened to him if Medicaid didn’t exist. He asked me if he ever told me how he ended up being homeless. I for a moment looked at a tall building five blocks away. It was already time for me to get to work. But the voice in my heart spoke – Those reports and numbers lying on your desk can wait, you must listen to this story.
He had a restaurant in Philadelphia that ran into debt. He was just living from paycheck to paycheck not saving up any money for the future. One not-so-fine day, he was kicked out from his rented house and lost everything he had. Since then, he has been homeless trying to pick himself up. I asked him where he usually sleeps and he said it is mostly at his friends’ places, shelter homes, or train stations. Deep in the conversation, he said, “With time I understood the importance of saving money and planning out for future. Honestly speaking, renting a small place costs only $70-$80 a week which is not a lot of money if I can plan properly. It is just about the bad decisions I keep making. Like spending a few dollars on short-term plastic crap or luxurious food is not going to get me out of being homeless. I want to keep some money aside and save for long-term so I don’t spend it now. I found a friend with whom I can keep a part of my money for now and use it later”. He has a job interview next week and is starting part-time work at a restaurant.
I walked into a bank to pull out some money for my new friend’s thanksgiving celebration. And I started thinking about why it will be a good idea for him to save money in the bank. I went up to the bank employee who started greeting me with a wide warm smile. I started the conversation saying how my homeless friend wants to save up money for long-term and asked her about briefings on the types of savings accounts. I could immediately sense a change in her expression. She started giving me minimal details about accounts stressing more on minimum balance and other formalities. She was indicating that the bank would not be interested in associating with my friend as he would not meet the expectations of a ‘class’ society. Here we have a man who wants to build a life for himself but doesn’t have access to basic infrastructure most of us take for granted.
I told him to get a home before the first snow hits. I waved goodbye saying I will keep seeing him. He quickly remarked saying “Not for long! I really want to get a home. However, once I settle down, I will keep coming back to this place regularly to thank all you people who fill me with positive vibes. A couple of people who were homeless before and settled now keep visiting us. They are an example to us on how one can pick oneself up despite the struggle. Even I want to be an example to somebody and inspire them someday”.
I started walking towards the office, my mind occupied with what happened in the last one hour. I shared his story with a colleague who is a Public Health student. She looked at it through a different lens and said, “I am really happy the Medicaid took care of his surgery and saved his life. I am proud of our welfare programs. But did you think why his stitches were still fresh? He must have had the surgery a couple of days ago and was kicked out of the hospital. Though the policy requires hospitals to care for Medicaid patients after surgery, for which government funds through taxpayer money, surveys show most of these hospitals kicking out Medicaid patients right after surgery. Some who need utmost care are sent to facilities which don’t even have nurses to operate needles. That is a loophole we have to study and fix”.
I came home and started sharing this story with my family. Midway everybody told me they would be mad at me if I didn’t already invite him for the thanksgiving lunch at home tomorrow. I had to tell them about his plans to go to Baltimore and meet his brother and little niece whom he misses a lot. It is 2am in the night and I know I had to write this down. The spirit my friend had in him is a great source of strength for anybody.
I am reminded about everything I am thankful for in life.
Update: I bumped into my friend again. It was a -7 Celsius cold day and he was at his regular spot. His stitches were all healed. He had a great time with his brother’s family at Thanksgiving. Last week, he gave a job interview to work at a restaurant and is positive he will get it. He was just heading out to a nearby church that stays open all the time as a shelter for homeless people when the weather gets colder than usual. After meeting his family, he looked more cheerful and happier than he used to be. I strongly pray he picks himself up and the happiness stays.
Vineesha Badabhagni 
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