Homeless, trans*, poor, and injured

[ThePhoenix]

So one of the things I end up doing is helping trans* people who are turned away by the shelter system to find emergency housing.  In this case, I've been thrown a bit of a wild card.  I have a person who is homeless, trans*, poor and I found her a place to stay.  But right before she moved into the temporary place, she fell, hit her head, and had to have emergency brain surgery.  She was released to the hospital, but it turns out that she is still unable to balance herself.  She falls repeatedly.  And she poses a risk of harm to herself or others because of the falling.

Housing here is not the problem.  But finding housing PLUS medical assistance to avoid her falling on anyone PLUS finding somewhere for her spouse who is also an invalid. . . . well, these are problems.  Combine it all and I'm not quite sure where to even look for a viable solution.  Any ideas?

[Dee Marshall]

It sounds like you need a medical respite facility. You may or may not have one near you. Talk to the hospital and social services.

[Devlyn]

Is the Red Cross equipped to help with that?  Best of luck finding assistance.

Hugs, Devlyn

[ThePhoenix]

It sounds like you need a medical respite facility. You may or may not have one near you. Talk to the hospital and social services.

Aha!  Thank you, this helps.  I found one in D.C. and several in the suburbs. Now I'll go to work trying to get her into one. 

Is the hospital the best person to get her into one or should I try to do that directly?

Is the Red Cross equipped to help with that?  Best of luck finding assistance.

Hmmmmmm.... Good question.  Fortunately I have unlimited minutes on my cell phone so I can call around to the Red Cross and these respite center's to ask some questions.  Part of the trick, of course, is finding places that are safe for a trans* person. 

Sadly, I am in no way a professional at this sort of thing and I don't know my way around the system especially well.  People just call me about this sort of thing because they don't know who else to call.  And I try to help because I don't know of anyone else to call either.  When I talk to the social service agencies in the area they throw up their hands and say they don't know what to do with trans* people either.  Most of the time I manage to find something.  But sometimes not, and that's pretty hard to take when I can't. 

Thank you both very much!  You've given me some leads!

[LordKAT]

Sometimes calling 211 for local info can find your answers in call.

[Dee Marshall]

Aha!  Thank you, this helps.  I found one in D.C. and several in the suburbs. Now I'll go to work trying to get her into one. 

Is the hospital the best person to get her into one or should I try to do that directly?

I would speak to the hospital social worker or discharge planner.

[ThePhoenix]

I just want to thank everyone for the info they have provided here.  This has been consuming quite a bit of my energy and time since Monday.  Today I ended up taking both the trans* person and the spouse to the emergency room I've been with them all day.  Their condition has gotten worse since I posted looking for advice. 

One of them (the trans* half) has an acute head injury.  The other (spouses has, among other things, advanced stage cancer.  My practice is never to name names, but the trans* half is someone that is quite well known in and around Washington, D.C.  It's really hard to watch what she is going through.  It is so very wrong.

The spouse is, if anything, worse.  I have not yet lost anyone who I was helping.  But I am not at all sure this one is going to walk out of this hospital.  I hope she will.  But I just don't know. 

Tomorrow I will be going over to the home of the folks these two were staying with until it became so clear how bad their condition was.  My job is to give them a chance to debrief and support them.

Unfortunately, I am usually the leader of the whole shebang, and this is no exception.  Sort of by definition, there is no one for me.  So I'd welcome any words of support right now. 

(And I'd really appreciate folks skipping the +1.  Seriously.  It makes me feel cheap when it comes to something like this).