"When did we see you?"--Stan's story.

How many of us have seen a "different" person and have gone out of our way to avoid them? I'll admit I have. Stan showed up at our church last December, and stayed for coffee hour. Being really busy the month of December, it was easy for me to see him but not get to talk to him. I saw others reaching out to him and heard him, for he spoke a little loud, yet was always smiling. In January it was brought to my attention that Stan needed hearing aids, and lived in our local mission for the homeless. That was the start of a wonderful relationship and a real learning experience.

I introduced myself to Stan and promised to see what I could do to help. The Rural Health Network helps folk with vision problems, so I called them. They gave me the name of VESID, a government agency that helps people who have physical problems (like hearing loss) and want to work. I signed Stan up and he got an appointment to meet with VESID's counselor. I took him to the meeting and stayed with him as he requested.

Very soon after meeting Stan, I learned that he had other medical needs as well. Prescribed medications for hypertension and cardiac problems were obtained and teaching began on compliance. Stan would visit every Thursday when I had office hours, for B/P check and "talk."

Over the month or so that it took to get the VESID meeting set up, I got to know a lot about Stan. He was 58, and had been going from town to town all over the northeast as a homeless person for the last several years. He had been brought up for most of his early life in a church orphanage. He is very knowledgeable about church history, especially the Eastern Orthodox Church, and is a monk! He loves the church, but definitely has his own beliefs about it. Because of this, he never got beyond his first vows. He had problems with the idea of having to go to college, and dealing with the social aspects of living as a monk.

Stan is not what you would think of normally as a homeless person. He is concerned about his appearance and is always neat and clean. He is very kind, full of laughter and caring. He is always reaching out to others in the homeless shelters, trying to help them. Besides being almost completely deaf in both ears, he also had a CVA several years ago, which left him with very poor handwriting. Filling out forms is his worst nightmare.

VESID was helpful, but Stan needed to get enrolled in Medicaid. When we went to Tioga County Social Services to fill out the paperwork, they hadn't told us that we would need certain papers, we thought we had everything. By the time all the paperwork was done, we were told it would take at least a month to hear. When we got word he had gotten Medicaid, we were told that that was all we applied for! When we had filled out the endless list of papers and had gotten references, we thought we had applied for the whole package, including housing help, help finding a job, food stamps etc. This was a great disappointment to Stan and to me. He had been living in the mission for six months and there were problems, as they didn't know how to deal with someone who is different than the normal client.

Stan had worked in kitchens all his life. He tried to get a job on his own but there wasn't much around our small town. After this disappointment and the fact that it would take months to get any of the other benefits, Stan decided to move on and is now in Pennsylvania. Before going, he had found out all he could about shelters, and help for the indigent. One of the first things he did when he got there was to become involved with REACH, a program for needy persons, out of the local Episcopal Church. He sent me information about REACH, including the person he was dealing with. I called her, Rose, and we talked at length. She was the kind of person he needed. She got him enrolled in all the programs available.

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He is now in his own apartment, is getting hearing aids, has applied for SSI, and is actively looking for a job. He gets frustrated because of all the paperwork even to be a volunteer. He has found a church he can be active in and be a cantor. Stan and I keep in contact; in fact he has me as his Health Care Proxy.

Elaine Carril, Parish Nurse at St. Paul's Episcopal Church at Owego, New York, was asked by Kathy Medovich, Parish Nurse Coordinator at Lourdes Hospital in Binghamton, NY, to write up this account, which we are pleased to include here. Elaine can be reached at [e-mail].