Tag Archives: death

Jun 27 2011
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california, welfare

♥break, aka How My Job Sucked Today

Life is Fragile. This baby, however, is alive.

What happens when a baby on CalWORKS dies

Oh dear God. I just came back to my desk after telling a woman that –  because her baby died at birth – there will be no money, food stamps or medical coverage for her or the baby’s father from now on. In fact, the County of Los Angeles may   bill them for the last two months of assistance they recieved after the baby died.

Mom and Dad live in their truck. They are leather skinned, thin, worn people who look transplanted from another recession: another era.

CalWORKS is Aid to Families with Dependant Children (AFDC, Federally) and without a minor child, there is no aid in my program. There is General Relief – and I know almost nothing about GR – other than where to apply.

Her baby was depending on them, and they were depending on the baby.

I feel like I kicked a woman when she was down, and I feel a little survivor’s guilt because this morning I was showing pictures of my healthy 5 month old.

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Jan 03 2011
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skid row

Godd Bless Anne Martini

A mid-west ballerina who was a personal assistant to Jane Fonda, worked and taught at UCLA and in the recent years was accepted to Graduate School at USC, Anne Martini died on Christmas Eve 2010.

In the middle of her life she had an abusive marriage, a drinking problem, and a mental breakdown. UCLA hospital dropped her off on Skid Row where she was found by Outreach Workers from LAMP Community. Out of work, out of money, and out of luck, her friends from the West Side would not take her in and her family did not want her. She was too much trouble.

Celina Alvarez, an advocate at LAMP, decided to take on the issue and helped her recover money from UCLA and start applying for Social Security. In the mean time she was moved into a section 8 Shelter Plus Care apartment in The Lamp Lodge. Her weight had bloomed to almost 400 pounds. When she recieved Medi-Cal she had a Gastric bypass and eventually weighted 110 pounds again.

Even when Anne had lost what you and I consider to be everything, she kept her mind. She was sharp, and sometimes manipulative, but also well spoken and concerned for her neighbors and friends and those around her.

God Bless Anne Martini and grant her rest and a permanent home.

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May 20 2010
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homeless

LA Mission Client drowned

at a retreat yesterday. He fell out of his canoe and did not survive. He was on a retreat from Los Angeles’s Skid Row. The full story is HERE in the Mercury News

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May 14 2010
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homeless

Sleeping and run over by a truck

A man was sleeping on the side of the freeway in Portland last night when a truck, driven by a young man who was drunk, went off the road and flipped. During the accident a homeless man was killed by the vehicle. They think he died instantly.  No one knows who the sleeping man was.

Lack of food and shelter, the street elements,  and lack of  health care are not the only dangers to Homeless People. When there is no where else to sleep, you sleep on the sidewalk and that means close to traffic. Homeless people hit while pan handling or sleeping. standing, walking on the sidewalks happens more often that is reported.

What I did not know is that the rate of death among homeless women who do not have children is greater than that of homeless men.

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Apr 27 2010
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homeless, venting

Would you help?

Someone’s baby boy is running on the sidewalk and falls down. He can’t get up. He is moaning and can’t get up. And then you see he is bleeding. 

Do you try to help him. Do you ask him his name? Do you call 911 or yell to a stranger to do the same?

Or do you look at him just long enough to make sure you don’t trip over him as you walk past.  You don’t know him so he is not your problem. He is not your child or your family and frankly it is inconsiderate of him to fall down in your path – and that blood is soo unhygienic!

- Really? Who thinks like that!

At least 20 New Yorkers did as they walked past a dying man who had come to the rescue of a woman being attacked.

What? That happened to a grown man? And an immigrant as well?

Get over yourself, he is still someone’s baby boy and he dies on the street after a heroic act.

What will you do the next time you see someone laying on the sidewalk – bleeding or not. Will you help?

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Jul 27 2009
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homeless

Homeless Man is mourned in Florida

Some of you will read this article and think “Well, of course – he was homeless and drank himself to death. That is all the homeless do – they drink”

Some others will assume that one less homeless individual is one less mouth to feed.

I want you to read this article and replace “Homeless” and Camp” with “country club” and tell me if you feel different.  I dare you.

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Jun 22 2009
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homeless, los angeles county

Homeless man burned in wheelchair.

No, it wasn’t a hate crime. Whew. It was an accidental burning of a cigarette smoking, wheelchair bound homeless man in a strip mall in South LA. (Read South Central LA).

Apparently the man still had a hospital wristband on his arm which is causing concern that he may have been homeless – or he could just be like me and forget to take it off, or unable to find something to cut it with.

The investigation is on-going. I will let you know if anything interresting develops.

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