When Buying Cigarettes Made My Day

HELP of Ojai has been working with a client that has had unstable housing for the past two months.  This client has recently broken a bone and cannot be living on the street due to the where the bone is and the amount of pain it causes.  Several housing opportunities in Ojai and other cities have come and gone due to uncontrollable circumstances and the client ended up back at the CAP Office yesterday.

After spending the day getting immediate needs met, including a very important doctor's appointment, we sent the client to where he would be staying for the night.  The next day we thought we would be able to set the wheels in motion for this client to get into skilled nursing on Friday, but in the afternoon we started making phone calls to the different agencies and found that nothing had happened.  The release form signed the previous day was the wrong one and skilled nursing couldn't get the right information from the doctor's office.  The doctor's office didn't let the client or us know that another form had to be signed, so we were in the same spot as the day before and looking at at least one night of homelessness.

Frustration sets in and we do everything that is asked of us to help move forward.  At the small recap we had at the office afterwards, question after question was of why.  Why did doctor's office not give us the correct release form?  Why did nobody contact us when they found a new release form needed to be signed?  Why did they not have the client sign the release form at the doctor's appointment the day before?  Why, why, why?

During all this we acted professional, but tried to convey the importance and urgency of the situation.  Karen describes it as being a kind pit bull.  I love this terminology because you want to be a strong advocate for your client, but you also don't want to hinder them by making people angry and not wanting to help you.

So on my way to pick up our client to bring him to the doctor's office, I stop and get him two packs of cigarettes.  I know! I know! I don't endorse this, but now is not the time to talk about quitting.  As I purchase the cigarettes (legal age is 18 until next month) and the guy asks for my ID.  I give it to him and he looks at it and puzzles over it.  He then says, "Wow, I would have never guessed!".  Praise, praise!  So in the middle of all the whys and being a kind pit bull, I figured out how buying cigarettes can make my day.