The first half of the year really has been a load of content that mixed some patient and staff stories along with our thoughts on current events that have occurred locally, state-wide, and even nationally. 

However, I think it is time to properly introduce ourselves, and that will happen in this four-day blog series ‘4 Days until July 4^th weekend’. 

This series will give you the gist of HealthNet, Inc.’s outreach programs that really bring wrap-around services to our network of health centers.

Now without further adieu,
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Part One: Homeless Initiative Program….

Since 1988, our Homeless Initiative Program (that hopefully you will grow to know as ‘HIP’) has helped thousands of Indianapolis’ homeless by providing a network of services to treat the whole person, as he or she moves from homelessness into employment, housing, and self-sufficiency. 

HIP’s mission is to assist homeless persons in reaching a level of self-sufficiency consistent with their goals and capabilities for physical, mental, social and economic well-being.

And to stick with the number 4, here are four things you need to know about HIP:

1. HIP serves nearly 3,300 homeless individuals per year.Through a wide array of services that include employment and training, case management, triage/outreach, health care services, and a homeless veterans reintegration program, HIP gives a care about the specific needs of the individual on a case-by-case basis.
2. HIP is one of the largest, most comprehensive homeless programs in the state.HIP staff work closely with other providers around the city to continuously stay up-to-date on all community resources available for homeless individuals.  HIP builds partnerships that work because ending homelessness is a team effort.

    

3. Persistent staff work tirelessly on a case-by-case basis.I can’t put the right amount of emphasis on this in two sentences. So, here are two links to previous blogs:
   - Jeff Smith, a homeless veteran who became an alcoholic and was convicted of forgery, received a second chance because of the persistent effort of his biggest advocates — the HIP staff
   - Ricky Wallace, a homeless veteran who wanted to help his ailing parents, moved to Indy thinking he could crash with a friend. But his plans fell through.  HIP helped Ricky find emergency housing and now he is living his dream as a chef.
4. There are plenty of ways to get involved.Here are just a few examples of how you can help prevent and end homelessness without a monetary donation.  However, donations are accepted and much appreciated because of the continual struggle to find funding for homeless services each year!  Also, time is money. Call here to learn about volunteer opportunities with HIP.

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Want to learn more about HIP?
Are there specific questions that you have about homelessness in Indy?
Comment below!
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A Recipe for Success!

Our Homeless Initiative Program (HIP) sees many success stories as one of the largest and most comprehensive programs for the homeless in Indiana.  This particular story touches on all of the different tools HIP uses to contribute to the success of their clients.

“Smile, you’ve got a job now…”
(story written by: Karin Romani, Employment Specialist at HIP)

A homeless veteran, Ricky Wallace, came to us for help with housing through our Homeless Veterans Reintegration Program(HVRP).

Ricky Wallace proudly showing off his new job and his new teeth!

Ricky had a decent job in Evansville but moved back to Indianapolis to be closer to his elderly, ailing parents.  He couldn’t live with them as they are in an assisted living facility.  So, Ricky’s first thought was to crash with a friend but that didn’t work out, and he came to us.  We helped Ricky get emergency housing.  But one concern was the job he had just found was a very long drive, and he was worried about his car making it out there every day, especially in the upcoming winter weather.  Karin Romani, an employment specialist at HIP, helped him to apply for and get a better job, closer to home, with more stable hours so he could better assist his parents.  Mr. Wallace is now working for IU Health in the Methodist Café and doing VERY well according to his supervisor.  Throughout the job application process with IU Health, the client came into our office periodically to get assistance, and during two of those times, he complained of excruciating tooth pain.  Going way above and beyond, Nurse Practitioner JoAnn Morris stopped what she was doing, evaluated and treated him on the spot. JoAnn also finagled an emergency dental visit not once, but twice for him.  The first incidence of tooth pain came because of a seriously abscessed tooth, and the time after that was due to another tooth breaking and crumbling.  As a team, we helped Ricky get housed, get proper dental care, apply for and make it successfully through a long application process with IU Health, and in addition, our HVRP team helped him get his car towed and repaired (it died on the last day of his former job way out in Avon).  He can now get to and from his new IU Health job consistently.

Mr. Wallace is truly grateful and we were glad to help a man who we knew deserved it and is truly appreciative of it.  Ricky has always thought of others before himself, but this time he found himself in need and did something about it.  HVRP and other HIP services were there to make sure he got back on his feet so he can help his parents and be a true asset to the Methodist food service team.

To learn more about the services provided by HIP visit our website.  To directly support the Homeless Initiative Program, click the donate button in the right-hand column of our blog!

Jeff Smith, Marine Corps Veteran

Jeff Smith served in the Marine Corps during the early ‘80s, earning a deployment ribbon and an honorable discharge.  But after the Corps, Jeff fell on hard times.  Alcohol became an addiction—one that destroyed his personal life and nearly destroyed him.  He couldn’t hold a steady job because of the addiction, so he was hustling from day to day just to keep going.

Then he made a bad decision that greatly accelerated a downward slide: He signed a check he had no business signing—just to get some money to eat and pay for some shelter. That act of desperation earned him a felony conviction for forgery in 2007.

Jeff admits today that his arrest was the wake-up call he needed. It forced him to take a hard look at himself and see how far his life had unraveled. Unless he made some different choices immediately, there wouldn’t be anything left to salvage. So Jeff made a Marine’s decision — he faced the truth about his life, his addiction, and his behavior. He asked for help and enrolled into a special substance abuse program for veterans, the R.E.S.T. program (Residential Employment and Substance Abuse Treatment). He stuck with the treatment plan; and by June 2010, he had logged over a year completely free from alcohol. He was proving himself a success—both to himself and to the counselors who worked with him.

Upon achieving this benchmark in his recovery program, Jeff now was authorized to deal with employment issues. And that’s when the Homeless Initiative Program’s HVRP staff met him. Jeff applied to the HVRP career program. After assessment by staff, he was assigned to the HVRP Skills That Work workshop, a weeklong training program that equips HVRP veterans with an eye-catching resume, special job-search and internet computer tools, as well as professional interviewing skills. He completed the workshop, impressing HVRP staff with his commitment and seriousness. Staff found him to be extremely pleasant, humble, and realistic.  Moreover, he wasn’t work shy. He performed every task assigned to him with grace and good humor.

The next step for Jeff was the HVRP Guided Job Search program. For three days each week, he spent several hours in the HVRP Job-Search Room, under the tutelage of staff, working to follow up on job leads. He proved to be responsible and dependable.  So it was with concern and disappointment that staff watched him apply for job after job without a job offer.

He was applying for jobs for which he was qualified, but employers weren’t responding to his applications. HVRP staff suspected that the problem was his recent criminal conviction—the felony forgery conviction from 2007. Most employers require that a felony be at least 5 to 10 years in the past before they will even consider a job application—if they agree to consider it at all. Jeff’s conviction was simply too fresh.

But Jeff was a veteran fighting hard to win his life back. He had proved that. And one of the missions of HVRP is to help veterans like Jeff get that second chance at life. So we took special action. HVRP had developed a relationship with Denison Parking, a local employer that wanted to help veterans. HVRP staff thought that Jeff would be a perfect fit. So HVRP made a special appeal to Denison executives to advocate for Jeff, outlining the successful steps he had taken to change his life. We asked Denison to give Jeff serious consideration for an available maintenance position, despite his criminal history. We also pledged that HVRP would stand with Jeff and would follow up with him after employment to ensure his success.

The recommendation Jeff received from HVRP persuaded Denison Parking to hire him on a trial basis. For three months since, he has earned recognition from Denison as one of its stellar employees. In fact, Denison recently promoted him to a better shift and has entrusted him with greater responsibility. Jeff is grateful for the second chance he’s received, and he’s making the most of it. He is a persuasive example that offering a veteran a second chance simply makes good business sense. And the Homeless Initiative Program’s HVRP staff is pleased to have helped make it happen.

Stories like these happen everyday, but they are not always highlighted because they slip through the cracks.  Help us continue to make these stories happen, Blanket Indy with Care. Our Homeless Initiative Program serves over 2500 homeless individuals in Indianapolis, a simple and quick online donation can go a long way.

Feel free to leave comments/questions below.

• Pallets of cereal
• Whole wheat pasta and sauce
• Organic canned vegetables and soup
• Several other household items

The Threshold Project is a Shelter Plus Care permanent supportive housing program that was initiated in 2004. It combines supportive housing services with comprehensive case management and job training support. The Threshold Project is a sponsor-based rental assistance program that serves 42 chronically homeless individuals with a disabling condition including serious mental illness, chronic addiction, or a co-occuring disorder.  All 42 individual apartment units are leased at a single site, the Gladstone Building, a property owned and operated by Partners in Housing, a not-for-profit developer.

The Ralph Dowe Legacy Housing Project provides on-going case management and resource coordination for formerly chronically homeless persons transitioning from homelessness to permanent housing and self-sufficiency. Currently, HIP provides services to 16 chronically homeless individuals housed in one-bedroom units in the North Oaks of Broad Ripple apartment community. Using a housing first approach, Dowe clients are moved directly from the streets or emergency shelter into permanent housing. Once they are housed, HIP staff works with them to address the underlying issues of their chronic homelessness.

The donation from Whole Foods Market’s Bag Hunger campaign provided much needed food to those housed in one of our programs. Educating our clients on maintaining a healthy lifestyle is essential to helping them “get back on their feet.” By providing them the opportunity to take part in eating healthy, furthers their success for the future.

You can also help directly by donating to HIP online or raising awareness about resources for the homeless within our community!
Comment below if YOU have an idea on how to BAG HUNGER for those in Indy who need it or know of other resources for the homeless.

“Smile, you’ve got a job now…”
(story written by: Karin Romani, Employment Specialist at HIP)

Ricky Wallace proudly showing off his new job and his new teeth!

A homeless veteran, Ricky Wallace, came to us for help with housing through our Homeless Veterans Reintegration Program (HVRP).  Ricky had a decent job in Evansville but moved back to Indianapolis to be closer to his elderly, ailing parents.  He couldn’t live with them as they are in an assisted living facility.  So, Ricky’s first thought was to crash with a friend but that didn’t work out, and he came to us.  We helped Ricky get emergency housing.  But one concern was the job he had just found was a very long drive, and he was worried about his car making it out there every day, especially in the upcoming winter weather.  Karin Romani, an employment specialist at HIP, helped him to apply for and get a better job, closer to home, with more stable hours so he could better assist his parents.  Mr. Wallace is now working for IU Health in the Methodist Café and doing VERY well according to his supervisor.  Throughout the job application process with IU Health, the client came into our office periodically to get assistance, and during two of those times, he complained of excruciating tooth pain.  Going way above and beyond, Nurse Practitioner JoAnn Morris stopped what she was doing, evaluated and treated him on the spot. JoAnn also finagled an emergency dental visit not once, but twice for him.  The first incidence of tooth pain came because of a seriously abscessed tooth, and the time after that was due to another tooth breaking and crumbling.  As a team, we helped Ricky get housed, get proper dental care, apply for and make it successfully through a long application process with IU Health, and in addition, our HVRP team helped him get his car towed and repaired (it died on the last day of his former job way out in Avon).  He can now get to and from his new IU Health job consistently.

Mr. Wallace is truly grateful and we were glad to help a man who we knew deserved it and is truly appreciative of it.  Ricky has always thought of others before himself, but this time he found himself in need and did something about it.  HVRP and other HIP services were there to make sure he got back on his feet so he can help his parents and be a true asset to the Methodist food service team.

To learn more about the services provided by HIP visit our website.  To directly support the Homeless Initiative Program, click the donate button in the right-hand column of our blog!

An excellent video and article done by Bob Woodruff and Ian Caemeron for ABC News captures the feelings of three of these homeless veterans.

“It was embarrassing,” [Jose] Pagan says.  “Honor, pride, duty, loyalty, all these things that we — that kick in as a soldier, you know. And then to find yourself here,” as he points to the park benches where he slept for almost two months.

Jose was one of the soldiers highlighted in this report.  The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) tries its best to make sure no veteran is left alone when they come home, but there are plenty of gaps that some may fall into.  The VA even seems to think the number of new homeless vets may be greater than 9,000.

“The military is beginning to understand why more veterans are homeless. ‘I think we have to do a better job of ensuring that all soldiers, not just those that are seriously wounded, are informed of the services that are available to them and so none of them leave the service and find themselves in a situation where they have nowhere to live,’ the Vice Chief of the Army General Peter Chiarelli told ABC.” – from  the ABC News report.

Helping Veterans should top our list when thinking about housing the homeless.  These people gave the ultimate sacrifice to serve us and our country.  They deserve a fighting chance when they come back home. Help HealthNet serve the veterans.  Our Homeless Initiative Program (HIP) has the Homeless Veterans Reintegration Program (HVRP) that provides employment training and home search services.  Donate directly to HIP or help raise awareness for homeless veterans everywhere.

Winter is tough for homeless outreach teams everywhere.  No one likes to see a man like Richie – “On a loading dock on E Street, a mound of frozen gray blankets rustled, and out from the pile rose their man, bundled in an assortment of jackets and hooded sweatshirts.” – deciding to stay on the streets of Boston despite the heavy snow fall.

Some of the homeless who won’t take blankets, gloves, sweatshirts, or shelter suffer from drug or alcohol abuse and maybe even mental illness.  Whatever the reason, no person should be without OPTIONS.  The advocates who found Richie were workers from the Pine Street Inn in Boston that began four decades ago to provide shelter for men suffering from alcoholism.

“[Jim Greene, director of Boston’s Emergency Shelter Commission] urged anyone who sees a homeless person in the cold to call 911, the quickest way to get help. Extreme weather can cause confusion and disorientation, he said. ‘Time is of the essence,’ he said.”

Although we may not be experiencing the weather of the East Coast, you can still help the homeless on the streets in Indianapolis this winter:

• Provide coats, gloves, hats, winter gear, etc. to HealthNet’s Homeless Initiative Program (HIP)
• Raise awareness about how to help the homeless in times of cold weather
• Donate directly to HIP online

A lack of resources has always been an issue when talking about serving or housing the homeless, and it can not be easy to tell someone who just needs a warm place to say that there is nowhere for them to go!  And it is even harder to watch capable human beings, such as veterans who are coming home, become chronically homeless because of the lack of support services present to help them land on their feet.  Services that are needed to help those who are on the brink of becoming homeless or the recent homeless are case managers and employment training groups.  All it takes is some education to get a person back to where they need to be.

Veterans gave the ultimate sacrifice by giving their lives and time to protect those of us living in freedom in America.  The least we could do is help support them as they ease their way back into civilian life.  HealthNet’s Homeless Initiative Program has a Homeless Veterans Reintegration Program (HVRP) that provides a variety of support services for the VA.  Support services that include a Guided Job-Search workshop to help those in need find a job that fit them best.

Find out how you can help by learning more about HealthNet’s Homeless Initiative Program and the HVRP, or help directly by donating at HealthNet’s website.