The San Angelo Community Needs Awareness on the Homeless

When it comes to the term “homeless,” people in San Angelo may automatically think of the old scruffy guy, unshaven, dirty, smelly and standing on a street corner begging for money. However, that’s an outdated view. Today, the homeless have a new face, but when it comes to awareness in San Angelo, on a scale of 0 – 10 with 10 being the most aware, the regular San Angeloan sits at a 3, said Scott Heiser with the Concho Valley Homeless Planning Coalition.

“The face of homelessness has really changed over the past couple of years,” said Heiser. “I think what you’re even seeing here today, as they’re coming through, is these are folks who look just like you and I. They simply don’t have a place to live. We can define [homelessness] in several different ways, and we do.”

By “here,” Heiser was referring to the Concho Valley Homeless Planning Coalition’s inaugural Homeless Awareness Day held last Thursday from 11 a.m. – 3 p.m. at The Ministerial Alliance, 100 Martin Luther King Dr. in San Angelo. The Ministerial Alliance co-sponsored the event, and more than 10 area agencies set up tables full of jackets, bags, toiletries and a wealth of information on available resources. Representatives from these area agencies were on hand to educate both the homeless San Angelo communities.

Celebrating the Month of Awareness

October is the month of awareness. It’s the month of fire prevention awareness, domestic violence awareness, national breast cancer awareness, Lupus awareness, and now, homeless awareness—something the San Angelo community needs more of, as Heiser stated.

“[People in San Angelo] know it exists, but that’s it,” he explained. “This is the case because they don’t want to know. If they’re hidden, it’s not an issue. If they don’t have to deal with it, that’s fine. A lot of them believe that because they pay taxes, it’s somebody else’s responsibility, which just isn’t the case.”

According to Heiser, here are the scenarios that define homelessness:

• People who don’t have a place to live, and may be living on the street or in a car, are homeless.
• Young mothers with children fleeing domestic violence, or bad home situations, are homeless.
• Young couples who just can’t make it because they didn’t graduate from high school; they’re not educated; they can’t qualify for a good paying job; these people are homeless.

“Nobody can make a living on minimum wage,” noted Heiser. “Minimum wage does not give you enough money to rent here in San Angelo, buy food, pay for a car, pay for gas—the things you and I consider normal. That doesn’t exist for somebody who is really in low poverty; and those are the ones we find homeless.”

Heiser added that the faces of the homeless don’t look any different than him or the readers of San Angelo LIVE!. Therefore, the scruffy man on the corner may be what we think of homelessness, but that’s not true for today, which is one of the reasons CVHPC decided to host this event. The other reason was to educate the homeless on the many resources available to them in San Angelo.

“Coming in and seeing all these services that are available primarily to the homeless is real important for [homeless men and women] to see and understand,” stated Heiser.

Offering a Wealth of Services to the Homeless

Esperanza Clinic: At the homeless awareness event, Carina Sturgeon, a certified application counselor with Esperanza Health and Dental Centers, said she does outreach and helps people if they’re uninsured. If they are, she helps them apply for insurance through the Health Insurance Marketplace, or she helps them sign up through Medicaid and Medicare.

“For those individuals who fall in the coverage gap in the state of Texas, we try to link them to other resources,” added Sturgeon.

Many of the people who go to Esperanza Health and Dental Centers are uninsured and many are homeless. Therefore, Esperanza set up a table at the event to educate this demographic on the resources and to show them that Esperanza is an option for them.

Methodist Healthcare Ministries: Karen Green and Cynthia Torrez, both registered nurses with Methodist Healthcare Ministries provide health services to the underinsured and the uninsured. 

“MHM will be coming in the next few years, so by the time they come here, they want San Angelo to not say who is MHM, but we want to get on board and how can we help," Torrez said about the organization.

According to the agency's website, MHM of South Texas is a private, faith-based, non-profit organization that provides medical, dental and health-related human services to low-income and the uninsured in South Texas; however, it’s expanding its operations to other communities across Texas. Officials from the agency have come to San Angelo and completed a health needs assessment because they plan on bringing $5 million in health care to the community, but only as long as the community works together to make this happen.

“We’re hoping San Angelo gets on board,” said Torrez. “I’m going to be honest, it’s been a slow response because Shannon and Community don’t want to work together. Our corporate office is dumbfounded because everywhere they’ve gone and had this proposal, communities have gotten on board."

As of now, Torrez and Green can refer clients to San Antonio, and they work with anyone who has a need, so if residents know of anyone who has a medical or dental issue and can’t get service in San Angelo, MHM can help.

“We get a little bit of everything and everyone,” Torrez said. “The referral system does take some time because there are 80 nurses, so there are a lot of people referring.”

Additionally, the community help workers have gone out to the local dentists so their clients don’t have to go to San Antonio. Torrez said MHM will have a meeting with the city in late November or early December to see where they’re at in the process.

 “They’re going to come in one form or the other,” she said. “However, the city has to work together for that to happen.”

Armed Forces Services Corporation: Lisette Alverio, a financial coach with AFSC, helps veterans get their financial affairs in order. The people she comes into contact with on a daily basis have no skills whatsoever, so it’s her job to help them get their finances in order and to help them maintain their living situations.

Some people have a lot of debt. In fact, one woman who came in was $80,000 in debt because she chose to purchase a $50,000 vehicle. Alverio helped the woman get out from a stressful situation.

“I work with them on where they are and where they want to go,” Alverio said. “I call it a no shame zone.”

Disabled American Veterans (DAV): Michael Rader, a San Angelo resident and veteran, said DAV has a new chapter here in town and the focus is on veterans.

“To get help from us, you do not have to get a membership at all,” he said.

Rader added that DAV provides services for men and women veterans who have been in some type of trauma. DAV representatives can also help a person get his or her paperwork, or DD Form 214, and from there they work with veterans to determine if they have medical issues, need to be enrolled in the VA clinic in San Angelo and if they are due any benefits they accrued while in the service.

DAV representatives also assist with educational benefits. Many veterans can go to school and have part of that paid for, or their kids are covered under the Hazelwood Act.

“Most people haven’t heard of that. We do all things inclusive, and if we need to do something with the VA, Jan Lentz, a counselor for the Department of Veterans Affairs, works with Workforce Solutions, and we’ll send them over there,” Rader explained. “They may send them back because there are other issues we need to deal with to help the vet.”

HUD-VASH Program: Nickie Starkey, a HUD-VASH case manager in San Angelo, said she assists with the West Texas VASH Homeless program.

“We help veterans who are at the point of eviction or who are homeless and attempt to gain stable housing, and get them in touch with the necessary medical and mental health services in the VA," stated Starkey.

The case manager added that her department helps with enrollment and getting veterans the services they need in order to maintain stable housing. 

“We have identified 33 vouchers that are available here in the San Angelo area,” Starkey said. “We have close to 200 in the West Texas VA, and it is a rotation of service.”

Overall, VASH is a rehabilitative type program where case managers are able to assist veterans, and once a veteran gets stable housing and graduates, the case managers can move on to help another veteran.

“Since our program started in 2010, San Angelo has been able to assist 75 veterans with service in the HUD-VASH Program alone," noted Starkey. “I would say that we’ve had a pretty good success rate. The goal is once they’re stably housed, their able to acclimate back into society and they know they have purpose and reason. They feel more comfortable and not ashamed."

By attending Thursday’s event, Starkey said she hopes people learn about the services available. This is a community-wide assistance program, and her agency is here to help all the homeless. They want to help the men and women who have made the ultimate sacrifice for their country.

Maxim Healthcare Services: Anne Segovia and Dora Rodriguez with Maxim Healthcare Services help families who are eligible for Medicaid in the State of Texas. They enroll them in one of the three available programs. With Star Plus, people have the option of enrolling with American or Superior, and so these two women are the ones who enroll them and help them select a primary care provider. Segovia and Rodriquez also educate people about their Medicaid benefits and make sure they’re aware of the services available to them.

The women also refer people to other agencies and they provide outreach to people who are in their early 20s or younger to make sure they keep their appointments.

“We just make sure they’re aware of what’s available,” said Rodriquez.

For people who don’t qualify specifically for Medicaid, the women can help them apply for CHIPS. Overall, Maxim is an agency dedicated to outreach in the community and educating people on services available to them, which is why these two women attended Thursday’s Homeless Awareness event.

Somebody’s Rusty: Somebody’s Rusty is a support ministry in place to help the homeless, and Thursday, volunteers Anna Thomas and Candis Hicks gave out blessing bags filled with toiletries. They were out at the event to talk about their ministry and network with other agencies in the area to know how they can help the homeless in their area.

“We do two big events called laundry love where we go to a laundromat and have free washers and dryers for people to use, and we provide blessing bags,” Hicks stated. “Showers are there, free haircuts, and we do that twice a year."

The ministry also does an event at the Soup Kitchen on New Year’s Eve, and every year they do something a little different.

“This year we hope to do something for Concho Valley PAWS called “Hounds for Hope,” but it’s in the works."

Amerigroup: Consuelo Lujan with Amerigroup helps people in need receive information on one of the plans for Texas Medicaid families. The agency offers two programs: Star and Star Plus, and it will offer a new program in 2016 called Star Kids. The Star program is for pregnant women and children under the age of 21, and low income families receiving Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF). That can include everyone in the household. Star Plus is for the elderly and disabled, and Star Plus members can have Medicare and Medicaid or just Medicare. 

“If they have Medicaid, then we take care of all their need through a primary care physician,” Lujan said. “If they have Medicare and Medicaid, we can cover the 20 percent.”

Lujan explained that Star Plus coordinators work one-on-one with their members. They go to the members’ houses to determine their needs and make sure they have adequate treatment and providers. If not, the coordinator refers the member to the appropriate resources in the community. The agency also has coordinators in nursing facilities, so they are the “middle man” for the nursing facility and the families. 

“We just want to make sure everything is running smoothly," noted Lujan.

Amerigroup also has a cell phone program and will pay the cost for a cell phone if a person can’t afford one. Lujan said, “Thank God for technology right?”

Amerigroup has been in Texas for 15 years and works in 12 states. "We have over 700 members," stated Lujan.

By attending Thursday’s event, Lujan said she hopes to reach out to as many members as she can and let them know there are a lot of services available to them whether they have the income or not. All they have to do is make that call. 

West Texas VA: Francis Rice with West Texas VA said she’s all about helping out the homeless community because there are many veterans who are a part of that community, and they’re not registered for services.

“We try to get them registered and let them know the benefits they have available to them,” Rice explained.

At Thursday’s event, the agency had two nurses giving flu shots and checking individuals’ blood pressure and blood sugar.

“I just hope that it helps out the homeless in some way,” Rice said about the services and event. “You know get them out of the rain, get them a hot meal, and let them know if their blood sugar is running high, they need to get it addressed. They may not seek the healthcare they need because they don’t have the means to so. This is a screening process to give them a heads up.”

Rice added that a lot of people don’t know they can get these services for free, so that’s the goal of Thursday—to let them know these services are available to them, and to hopefully catch anything that may be getting out of control and save them before things get too bad.

Getting People in Need on the Right Path

Overall, Heiser said this awareness event was a great way to get people started in the right direction, and the services mentioned in this article are just some of the agencies available to help the homeless and people living in poverty. Hopefully, people now know they aren’t alone, and the community no longer views homelessness as something they can ignore.

Heiser said, “[These people] don’t have to be out there suffering. We know they’re out there with diabetes, high blood pressure and things like that. There’s help available for that and services like mental health, services from the different hospitals and clinics, and housing services. If they’re a veteran, there are all kinds of services available here that they can take advantage of, so that’s what we’re trying to do. We’re trying to educate both [the homeless and the community], and that’s what the Homeless Coalition does. We’re the educators. We educate the homeless as to what’s available, and that usually has to be done by showing them, and then we’re also educating the community at large—again, by showing them.”