Housebound but homeless

Page from Hatched now available as e-book 

During my first year of illness, I found myself housebound and  facing homelessness at the same time.  I had one night left in rented accomodation. This experience will never leave me. 

In the Ireland of today homelessness is a BIG problem. It breaks my heart that people are sleeping out in the cold. That some feel that this is safer to be outside than staying at a dedicated hostel, out of fear of those who stay there have used drugs or alcohol.
Homeless people sleeping in doorways of shops, where all the commercial Christmas 'stuff' is displayed in all it's glory behind them.
A bigger contradiction can not be found.

Google 'Irish homelessness' and about 518.000 results come up...

My own story with a 'brush with homelesness' is that in the first year of being ill I staying in friend's houses until I found a flat in the centre of town. The drawback was that it was upstairs.
I used only the first floor and had my bed in the living room. But it was warm and I was in town.

The local librarian Evelyn Coady shared this memory at the Hatched Booklaunch in Lismore in June of 2006: "Dropping an audio book in to Corina back in 1999 I was horrified to see the wheelchair abandoned at the bottom of a steep staircase – Like Rapunzel incarcerated in her ivory tower Corina was trapped – trapped in a body unsure how to function – trapped – trapped full stop.

“Housebound but Homeless”

I was under the impression that I had this flat on a long term basis. But the landlord came up one day and said that he needed it for a holiday let. More money no doubt for those few weeks, but the rest of the year the place would be empty. 

My friends and carers were angry. Very angry. 

My belongings were packed up around me, and plans were made to bring me to the county council offices to have me sleep in their hallway, out of protest. Other plans were to stay at a B&B... There were various Council houses vacant in the town, one even with a ramp for wheelchair use... Empty for at least a year... But due to local elections no houses were given out until after the elections. To make a long, painful story, short, I received a letter in the post the day before I had to vacate my flat. My new homehelp was with me when the post arrived, and as by miracle, my new home was across the road from hers.

Every time I read or hear about homelessness, I recall this event. 

Homelessness should not be as big a problem as it is. Even again today in this little town where I live there are empty houses. Some for months, maybe a year... I can imagine that this is not just happening in our town.

There are many organizations in Ireland to support people who are homeless, or at the brink of becoming homeless.  For example Focus Ireland  or the Simon community 

Part of the Bag of Hope

I am not able to help them in a 'hands on' way, but every year I make donations in stead of buying gifts. This year I also made a Bag of Hope, a rather large version of the more familiar Shoe Box Appeal. I filled a bag with a full set of clothing, shoes, socks, jacket, hat and gloves, toiletries, book, notebook and pens, a few snacks, etc. A reader of my Facebook Post, created a bag too. She even included a small sewing kit, and a colouring book. Another friend brought the bags to Cork.
I hope that these small gestures made a bit of a difference in someones day.

Another way I hope to do my bit this year is by making donations from sales of my book. 

See the Little Wings Christmas Appeal on how to get involved,

 if you would like to help me help others.

I feel immensely fortunate to have a house.

To have a roof over my head.

To have clothes, shoes, food, heat. 

To have a warm bed to get into.

Gratitude

is too small a word 

for today.

homehelp in Ireland

This article has also been published on thejournal.ie  Friday 23 May 2014

there are some great comments from other people dealing with issues with HSE 

please read, it make your heart boil.

Early April a request was made for home help and carers allowance. As of today, the 20th May I hadn't heard anything from either of those application. I rang the public health nurse who had made the application for home help on my behalf. Apparently she had received a letter on 24 April that my application had been refused. That is all, the letter said. Refused. She had assumed, rightly I think, that I would have received a letter too. Not so.
I am furious and disappointed that nobody bothered to tell me that I was not going to get homehelp. 

Does the HSE think that it is a novelty to get home help? That it is easy to acknowledge that one cannot look after oneself any longer? Let me tell you is the worst thing of being chronically ill. To acknowledge that you have lost your independence. To acknowledge that you need help with the most basic daily needs. To have strangers coming to your house. Does the HSE think that anybody in their right mind in Ireland would request homehelp and willingly go through this humiliating experience just for the fun of it?

Being ill is hard. Having to fight for every basic human right is much, much harder. You hear heart wrenching stories everyday on the radio.

It feels a bit like there is somebody sitting in an office with a pen and just decided to tick the box 'refused', without any further explanation necessary to the person who made the request, and who needs the help. Maybe this is not a fair assessment of the public servant, but that is what it feels like.

Having a home help is not a novelty. It is an unfortunate necessity.

I'm furious that the government for not looking after the very people who need the care of the state the most. I nearly screamed at the television when I heard the news that the government was talking about 30 million being spend on a sports stadium in Cork, money given to the GAA. Don't have enough money already? Both Enda Kenny and Eamon Gilmore were so proud to make this announcement. They were glowing. 

In the meantime people are losing their medical cards, they don't get homehelp, carers allowance is harder and harder to get, young children in wheelchairs which they have outgrown, are being told that there is no money for a new wheelchair, or physiotherapy, or for speech therapy... To to attend a daycare.

Having people on trolleys in A&E is becoming the norm. Waiting lists to see a consultant are months, even years. It took me nearly two years and several letters, and degrading tests to receive a mobility scooter from the HSE. At least this time round they didn't say that 'a motorised aid would make me lazy'. That was a plus!

I am nearly sixteen years in this 'game' of dealing with the so called 'health' board, and have seen a deterioration in the care provided by the state.

I am not looking for easy handouts. I am too proud to be able to look after myself as best I can, but there are times I, like many others, do need the support in order to take our meaningful place in society.

This article has been published on thejournal.ie 

ps. As I no longer have a Facebook or Twitter account (find it all too confusing...) but you think this Blog deserves to make a presence there, please feel free to link it on your page. Thank you!