The Social System

Today, I got a very rude awakening to what it's like for someone to go through the social system. Brian and I went to pick up one of our guests, let's call him James, from Thomas Street Health Center, which is a health clinic specifically for patients with HIV and AIDS. It's supposedly one of the leading AIDS Hospitals in the country. One of the first doctors who discovered that HIV develops into AIDS currently works there.

We picked up James and spent the day with him basically to help him run errands. The plan was to first go to the social security office to get an ID, then to Ben Tuab Hospital to apply for a gold card, which is a card that lower-income people can apply for in order to get free medications, and then finally to one other office that provides free emergency housing to patients with AIDS. I'd love to say that we accomplished everything we set out to do, however I quickly realized that we would be lucky to even finish one thing on our list.

We started at the social security office to get an ID. We walked in to see one giant waiting room filled to the capacity. We got our number and managed to find seats. I looked around the room of people who were elderly or poor; everyone looked annoyed, frustrated, tired, and basically fed up. I turned to James and said, "This is depressing." He laughed and said, "Thanks." I quickly apologized realizing that I was probably not being very positive. He said, "No, don't apologize. Thank you for noticing how depressing this can be. This is bad enough if you're healthy and things in your life are alright. But think how this is for someone like me, who has nothing going for him."

As we continued to wait for our number to be called, we heard a woman getting very agitated. She was a deaf woman who was trying to communicate with the security guard, who didn't know any sign language. She was signing to him and making some noises, but none that were discernible words. She was getting more and more frustrated. The security guard finally went to get an employee that signed. I don't know much sign language, only the alphabet, but from what I could see the employee just kept telling her to leave. I watched his mouth, and he was, he was telling her, "Just get out. Just leave." She finally just broke down and cried. The security guard and the employee physically removed her from the building as she yelled, cried, and continued to sign to them. Everyone in the room just watched this awful scene. I looked around the room and saw the most horrified expressions on people's faces.

James, Brian, and I chatted for the next hour. During that time I asked him if he had any ID at all. He pulled out one piece of paper from his pocket. It was from a local prison stating that he was a registered sex offender. That was his only form of ID. After about an hour of waiting, we got the appropriate paperwork for James: a print out of his social security number, and a form saying he was homeless and had no income.

I won't get into the rest of the details of the day, which basically involved a series of waiting rooms, being turned away, or being sent somewhere else. The day concluded in James being told that the best thing he could do for himself would be to go to what is called The Homeless Program. I told James I would meet him at 7:30am Monday morning to go to this office and see how they can help him. He said that he can't guarantee that he will show up and left it at that.