K. R. - nurse employed at Mercy Recovery Center since 2006
1. What is the
time in your life that you felt the most at home, centered, yourself and why?
Um, When I feel at home?
Hahah – I don’t feel not at home, so I don’t… hahaha
Probably at home in
my living room.
2. What is the
time in your life that you either experienced a version of homelessness or felt
the least secure regarding your living situation?
SO you want to know where I didn’t feel at home in my living situation? I have not really
had that, um…. When I was young, I have had a time when I wa sort of on my own,
um but I always had supports to fall back on, so I didn’t really…I was young,
you know, 19… after my parents divorced, you know, they went their own way and
I was sort of left to figure out housing, so that’s kind of the only time
really that I felt that I didn’t necessarily… felt I didn’t have a home.
3. What’s one way
that gentrification affected you or your family/community personally?
I don’t know. I don’t think it has.
Um maybe my…work experience.. the homeless community
4. What is one way
that you/your family/community has been personally affected by homelessness?
Um… well in the setting that I work in.. I’ve gotten to know
patients, heard their stories and have gotten to know what they go through, so
you can’t help but have it affect you on some level. Um you know, when you see people panhandling
I think it’s kind of difficult because of my job, to know that they are
panhandling, to know what reason that they’re panhandling for? You know, whether they are looking for drugs
or you know, to get the next beer or whether they are looking for a handout to
improve their lives. So um you know working with the homeless has definitely,
gave me… you know my old inclination would be maybe to give ‘em a buck or two,
but I wouldn’t do that anymore. It’s not
because I don’t feel for them, but it’s because I know that there are people
out there who don’t necessarily… are out there for the right reasons. You know,
to get the next drink or fix… I know that happens.
5. What is a
question you have relating to the issue of homelessness that you don’t ask out
loud because it may be seen as either politically incorrect or ignorant?
Maybe that question – to get a real answer - why are you out
here panhandling? What will you really do
with the money? Food? Shelter? Alcohol
or drugs? Improving their lives? On some
level I don’t think people know what to do with that. I think that assuming that they are not there
for the right reasons would be politically incorrect. Ya… just the wondering.
6. If you had a
magic wand, what is one way you would you use it to address gentrification?
To improve people’s quality of life while you are improving
their surroundings, so to solve all their problems, not just housing that is in
good shape. To improve everything about
people’s lives and have them not fall back into old ways, their comfort zone. Services, roof over their head, food in their
mouths, education, you have to do it all, in order for them to improve. Make sure that they have mental health
services, make sure that they have alcohol counseling services, it’s just a
lot.
7. If you had a
magic wand, what is one way you would use it to address homelessness?
Um probably the same thing; that you would have to fix
everything. You would have to fix all the problem areas.
8. This is a
definite ‘first thought’ question so I’m happy to ask it twice if you’d like to
help you catch that ‘first thought’. What is one thing in your life that would
be different if you knew for certain that from this moment on everyone
everywhere would always have safe affordable housing – first thought?
Um, I guess people wouldn’t be cold. You live in Maine. It’s cold out there. I don’t
know if it would affect my life, but it would definitely affect theirs.
Um one thing that comes to mind is that the more services
there seem to be in a given state or place, the more it draws the homeless to
it, and so the better our services, the bigger the problem.
You know it’s very strange.. you know people find out from
different places and they travel from a different state. And people find out “Oh, I can get this in
Maine”, they might go to it. And I’ve
seen fluctuations in my years working here
where, you know where services and the community get services for people and
then there is an influx and you know you can make the problem worse.
Blogs = interview Report + Quotes + Insights + Setting +
Reflection
1. Please document
each interview you do with a blog entry that details
a. What was said
overall as specific as you can include
b. At least two memorable
quotes or sayings
“- why are you out here panhandling? What will you really do with the money?”
“the more services there seem to be in a given state or
place, the more it draws the homeless to it, and so the better our services,
the bigger the problem.”
c. Insights that
either you or they had –
“the more services, the more people from away travel to get
services, making the homeless population in that area worse”
Me - That people from other states and areas travel to where
the services and supports are.
I’ve seen that - Volunteering at shelters in rural Skowhegan
and Solon – there were people who were from another state at those pretty rural
homeless shelters who were not from that area.
d. Setting –
several details that describe their clothing, posture, facial expression, type
of voice, where you were when interviewing, colors, objects, people around,
sounds – as if you are writing a short story
The people at the reception window seemed very leery of me
and why I was there. They said that no
one had time for an interview because they were all very busy. There were three people there at the time,
one at the window who answered the phone and addressed me when I stepped to the
window and one sitting near here and another who came in to chat while The
person I spoke with made a call to ask about an interview.
They discussed what I was there for and were very leery
about my purpose, stating they could not answer questions about patients
because of confidentiality. They seemed
pretty suspicious; I reiterated that I
had called multiple times and had been directed to leave messages on a certain
person’s voice mail; they said how that person was on vacation and wouldn’t be
back until next week. I also clearly
stated that I did not expect to discuss details of any patient and handed them
the list of 8 questions. They seemed
even more perplexed; I again stated
that I was in a class that was gathering information from certain Portland
community members in order to influence policies regarding homelessness and
gentrification. Blink, blink. They didn’t seem to know what that word
meant, but no one asked directly. I was
asked to take a seat and they would find out if there was anyone
available. The glass was slid cautiously
closed, and they turned towards one another, talking .
As I waited to find out if anyone was available and able and
willing to talk to me, I was in the waiting room with a man that was discharged
and waiting for a ride as well as two women, one of which went into an intake
interview room.
The man waiting was alone and made multiple calls to make
contact with someone who was available to pick him up. He seemed very tired and mentally
exhausted. In contrast, the two women
were chatting and giggling, looking at their cell phones.
A couple of employees came out from double doors and went
into the reception area and chatted with the people there, came back out,
looked my way, then disappeared back through the double doors. Finally, a woman in scrubs came out and
asked me to go into an interview room.
She looked at me very suspiciously and seemed very distrustful of why I
was there. She said that she was told I
had questions and restated their patient confidentiality policy.
The room was a very small office with a desk, computer, and two
chairs, one on either side of the desk. She
sat in the “I’m in charge” chair and directed me to sit in the other. It felt like she was humoring me and stated
that she was not sure what I wanted.
I went through the “who I was and why I was there” spiel
again. I talked about our project,
handed her the release form and confirmed that we would not identify her
specifically without further permission and that we were not specifically
looking to do that with this interview.
She was very suspicious and answered the questions with
great reserve and seemed to try to choose words very carefully. She seemed very guarded about answering
anything in a personal way. By the time
I left, I was almost questioning my own motives, and felt like I was being deceptive. I wonder if they thought I was a person
interested in their services and was trying to get information in a sneaky way. It was the strangest interview I have
conducted thus far.
e. Reflection --
And then make sure to include a reflection section with your personal
reflection about each interview.
As I thanked her for taking the time to answer my questions
and gathered my coat and papers to head out, I remembered the bird question. I silently chuckled to myself before I
spoke. When I told her I had one last
question that was meant to close out our time together and asked her to tell me
about the last bird she remembered seeing, she laughed out loud and asked if I
was serious. I sat smiling and said I
was. She told me about seeing a red
cardinal in a bush on a recent walk with her daughter. I thanked her, smiling, and left.
Even though the woman was very guarded with her answers, I
found it interesting that two of her most personal comments were ideas that I
had had as well. The question of why
panhandlers were really out there and what they would use the money they received
for, and the observation that it seemed like the more services for homeless in
an area, that people traveled there, therefore, seemingly increasing the
homeless population in that area. I wonder
about the validity of the second comment, but found it interesting that she
mentioned it. I very much enjoyed asking
the bird question to her and just thanking her and leaving afterwards. It still makes me smile when I think of the
quizzical look on her face.
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