and the story unfolds…
You will remember a couple of posts ago Dr Gabs Evans introduced us all to Vinnie. He's the guy that she was helping to navigate the tortuous route from homeless to a semblance of normality.
So today the tea pot is brimming and the flapjacks kindly made by Mavis are on the table. Are you ready to take the next steps?
Brushing the crumbs from her paper, Dr. Gabs continues...
Vinnie's story-
One thing I forgot to mention when I told the
beginning of Vinnie’s journey is the state his hands were in. Basically a red
raw mass of flesh. While looking for shelter, he had touched fibre glass, the
fibres became embedded in his skin and caused a massive infection, along with
the cold and the fact that it was so painful that he couldn’t wear gloves, he
also acquired frost bite.
The state of his hands worried us just as much as
the fact that he was almost a skeleton. When we found him, he was slightly over
90 lbs, and he’s about 5’9.
It took weeks to get the embedded fibres out of his
skin and before he could move his fingers again. He said the itch of it drove
him quite crazy and on occasion his hands still swell up. We soaked his hands a
lot in water with Epson salts, then applied duct tape and tried to get some of
the fibres out, others we attacked with tweezers. Due to having been there for
weeks, they had caused a pretty bad and lingering infection and the last 2
digits of his fingers were numb, even 6 months later it’s still flaring up on
occasion.
When we finally got another DWP assessment date (I
went along with him as he was terrified), he had the documentation for his mental health problems, but the assessor took one look at his hands and visibly paled – and
that was in late April or early May, and just sputtered “You need to have it
seen to!”
Another problem we had was a warrant was out for
Vinnie. His mobile phone was out of charge, he couldn’t ring his “offender
manager” and it also meant she couldn’t ring him. He had no address, she has no office, but she met him in public places like the job centre on certain days. He was so sick
and weak when we found him that the first 2 weeks he could only keep soups
down, so getting in touch with your probation officer is possibly not a priority
if you’re trying to survive.
What really made me angry was, the whole thing was
over a SANDWICH, he was starving over the winter and had stolen a sandwich, the
cheapest one the supermarket had (he wasn’t going for caviar & champers)
and admitted it. They called the police, Vinnie went to court and was given a
fine he couldn’t pay (if he could have, he would have bought food in the first
place and wouldn’t have been starving) and since he couldn’t pay he had to do
time…
Now since he’s homeless, when he got out (btw he said the days he spent
locked up saved his life as it was during a cold spell) he was automatically on
probation. The letter was sent to friends who had lost their lease as well, so
it took ages to reach Vinnie. He started shivering and was in a panic, I rang
his offender manager, let’s say she was less than helpful or interested. We
arranged to go to the Magistrate Court the next day, Dr Heald was nice enough
to give us a letter also stating that Vinnie hadn’t gotten the letters, hubby
& I wrote a letter and I went along for moral support. Luckily they decided
“No further action!”
One of the magistrates asked me if I wasn’t worried
taking in a stranger, I couldn’t stop myself from replying a bit testy “To be
perfectly honest, I was more worried he’d die on me, would you like to see
pictures how I found him?”
She didn’t…
I’m grateful that no further action was taken
against Vinnie, he’s not on probation anymore, but witnessing how people who
possibly never were hungry unless they decided to diet, are talking down at
somebody who didn’t steal out of greed but out of hunger and to survive did
annoy me quite a bit.
Yes, calling the offender manager is important, but so is
survival, maybe a bit more important…
If you don’t have money for food, you
have no money to top up your phone, if you steal a sarnie because you didn’t
find food in bins, chances are that you need help, not punishment.
We still cannot understand why the journey is made so difficult for everyone like Vinnie. Simple compassion and understanding would go a long way! Instead the letter of the law, each rule with crossed T and dotted I… And if you are on the receiving end like Vinnie, but without a Dr Gabs, life seems hardly worth living…
If this story impacts on you, you can find Dr Evans on Twitter as @DrGabsEvans.
Other support is available too. Our Partners on Twitter are there for you.
@onebigfamilyHTH - London and Kent
@YorkRoadProject - Woking
@Wolveshomeless - Wolverhampton
@simonotstreets - Leeds
@llamauUK - Wales
@SimonCommNI - Northern Ireland.
If you would like to buy a scarf or beanie to help keep a homeless person warm or a duffle bag for their possessions the link is here -
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