Pat
Sylvia
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HOMELESS
NO MORE
By Abrah J. Zion
Pat Sylvia is very grateful for Coastline Elderly Services,
Inc. Last year she had been evicted from her home. Put
out, without the oxygen she needs for her Chronic Obstructive
Pulmonary Disease (COPD), she had no alternate residence.
Due to the stress of the event and exacerbation of her
medical condition, she required a hospitalization. After
being released from the hospital around Thanksgiving, she
had no option but to stay in a motel. Her funds were insufficient
to sustain this temporary residence, so she moved into
a transitional shelter during the Christmas season. Ms.
Sylvia is clearly a woman who does not give up - she applied
for housing and received an apartment at a private subsidized
apartment facility in New Bedford .
Steven Guillotte is the Community Mainstream
Program Director at Coastline Elderly Services, Inc. His
program oversees the use of Emergency Shelter Grant funds
granted to Coastline through New Bedford 's Office of Community
Development. These funds provide for case management to
assist elders who are homeless, are facing homelessness,
or who need assistance in addressing a deteriorating housing
situation.
Mr. Guillotte received a telephone call from Elder Protective
Services informing him that while Ms. Sylvia now has a
permanent residence, she cannot move in because she has
no funds to furnish her apartment. Mr. Guillotte worked
to find and approve the use of private grant funds to assist
her.
Coastline was able to approve the use of private grant
funds for the elder to purchase a living room set from
The Salvation Army, and to provide her with a bed. Still,
Ms. Sylvia was unable to move into her apartment as she
had no other furnishings. Coastline approved further private
funding. Mr. Guillotte purchased a $300 Wal-Mart gift card
so that she could shop for all of her kitchen, bathroom,
and other necessities. Once moved in on 3/20/08, Ms. Sylvia
will also be screened by Mr. Guillotte to determine eligibility
for other services such as an increase in her Food Stamps.
Mr. Guillotte sees about 15 similar cases
per year, helping people who are homeless or who are at
risk of being homeless. He also performs approximately
20 home-visits per month to screen elders for various types
of benefits. “The funds
that we receive through the city's Community Development
Block Grant assist Coastline to serve numerous low-income
elders by searching for benefits that they may not know
they are entitled to. Once these benefits are found and
made available, an elder's quality of life can be vastly
improved”, states Mr. Guillotte. The program also helps
to identify other needs which are not necessarily financial
in nature. “We take a very broad assessment approach. We
are in the business of assessing the elder's financial
situation, living environment, and physical and emotional
functioning. The key word is “perception”. What is the
perception of the elder, the family, and others close to
the elder? Once these questions are answered, I offer an
evaluative perception, which will hopefully best address
the actual issue or issues at hand”, Mr. Guillotte continued.
His program provides outreach, education, and referrals
to services such as socialization, medical care, counseling,
legal assistance, nutritional services, etc.
Mr. Guillotte serves as Coastline's representative
to the City of New Bedford 's Homeless Services Provider
Network which meets monthly to discuss the issue of the
city's homeless. Mr. Guillotte reports, “ this group meets each
month as the gathering of the pillars of the local structure
that provides daily support to the area's homeless; in
fact one of the agencies – The HarbOUR House – provided
quality, temporary, shelter to Ms. Sylvia prior to her
finding permanent placement”.
For additional information regarding The Community Mainstream
Program or any of our other programs, please contact us
at: (508) 999-6400.
