Systematic disconnect

I met Clayton Stafford as he awaited a Sunday Thanksgiving meal at Trinity Episcopal Church on Kirkwood Avenue.

Stafford, originally from South Chicago, has been in Bloomington for four and a half years. For the last two and a half years, he has been homeless.

Stafford, who is often identified by police officers in Bloomington as 5-15-64 (his birth date), laments the system and is frustrated and disillusioned by its efforts to truly help those in need. He feels that instead of genuinely helping its homeless, Bloomington is trying to purge itself and its university of a most undesirable blemish.

He related to me a very recent experience with Bloomington Hospital. After finding his way to the hospital with a high blood alcohol level, he begged the administrative staff to admit him, emphasizing that his personal belongings had been stolen shortly before (which included his ID and wallet).

He begged the hospital to give him access to a psychiatrist, claiming he was bipolar and suicidal.

Sadly, the hospital rejected him. 

Reflecting on this experience, Stafford rhetorically asked, “What do I have to do (to receive treatment)? Do I have to cut my throat?” Stafford was and is, literally crying for help.

Although Stafford informed me that in Bloomington he “will never go hungry,” he stressed the perpetual cycle of grief and sorrow that accompanies his plight and that of others. What I interpreted was a fundamental disconnect between community methods and mentalities regarding the alleviation of poverty and what is truly required by those in need.

For starters, Stafford and others agree that transportation to food pantries and back to the shelters is a requisite. For Stafford the lack of transportation poses an acute problem because he suffers form neuropathy, making his trips to the shelter and food pantry particularly arduous.

Secondly, Stafford said that in order for the homeless in Bloomington to become healthy members of the larger local community, they need comprehensive medical attention (i.e, counseling and therapy) as soon as possible.

On a broader level, Stafford notes that ultimately, an underlying problem remains: education that will guarantee them a stable and sustainable job and lifestyle.

As Stafford points out, there are community-based organizations designed to respond to the basic needs of the homeless population in Bloomington. Supermarkets such as Kroger have dedicated themselves to food and clothing drives, for instance. These actions are valiant, but take into consideration the symptoms of poverty and not its root causes.

These drives, are, in another sense, an additional way for us to ignore, rather than becoming involved in, face-to-face interactions between donor and recipient.

While soup kitchens and Meals on Wheels programs promote more interaction between the rich and poor, they are temporary and do not promote a habit of responsibility and consciousness that would form the basis of a more compassionate approach to the social barriers that individuals like Stafford face on a daily basis.