Veteran: Disabled and Dumped
Mark Damron, Homeless Viet Nam Veteran, interviewed Friday, October 5, 2007 under the Japantown Bridge.
I was born and raised in Spain. My father was a Foreign Service Officer. He is 90 years old, living near Truckee, Nevada. My mother was born in South America.
I am going to be 55 this month.
I am a self-taught cabinetmaker since 1978.
From 1972 to 1976 I was in a very secretive part of the U.S. Navy, honorably discharged as a Veteran.
For many years I [lived] here, in San Francisco near the Ocean, on 25th in the Sunset District.
You have to forgive me because on the 25th of April [2007], I had brain surgery. I was hospitalized at Santa Rosa General Hospital. I would not wish it upon my worst enemy. No way. It is horrible. It has taken me so long to recover.
Normally, I look a person in the eyes, but I have double vision. The brain wants to right itself. In doing so, it works overtime, and [it is painful].
I was not conscious for two months. The third month, I became fully aware of my circumstances.
I lost everything—my house, [car, belongings, job].
I fell. I was walking from my dining room to my kitchen. I had something on the stove that was cooking. It was—not on fire, it was not burning, it was not in flames—it was [hunting for words]— how do I say this?—it was kind of—it was too hot. I was going to get up and turn down the flame. I tripped and fell, and in the course of doing so, I hit my head severely on the table that I made—maple.
Thereupon I fell face down in a pool of blood. My neighbor across the street [found me].
My sister lives in Nevada. She called paramedics and had them break down the front door. They transported me to Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital. There I was for two months.
[Because I’m a veteran], I was [transferred to] Fort Miley, the VA Hospital in July [for rehabilitation].
[I was discharged] at the end of July.
The case manager told me, “[The Granada Hotel on Sutter Street in the Tenderloin] is where you need to go.” [It] is about nine hundred bucks. I did not want to go there because it would exceed my income level. I have a Veterans Administration pension for almost 1,000 bucks every month.
I said, “How come I can’t go to Treasure Island, or what used to be the Air Force Base in Novato?” They did not give me a logical reason.
I warned them, “It behooves you to not release me from this hospital. It is inconceivable to me that I could be a person that could be on the streets.”
“It is unconscionable if you do this because what is going to happen is what you see before you.
“I’m not [fully rehabilitated]” I said to them, “Give me even two weeks.” They wouldn’t give it to me. Period.
You lay your life down on the line. You are risking your life 24/7 all the time you are in the service. It is unconscionable that Veterans are mistreated so poorly.
Meg Cooch, Director, Planning for Elders in the Central City:
How serious a problem is hospital dumping in San Francisco?
“[Discharged patients] show up at shelters not even sure that there is a bed available. Then it’s a scramble to find something.
“Especially with seniors, there are people in the community working hard to make sure there isn’t discharge straight to the street. But yes, that’s one outlet.”
James Chionsini, Community organizer for HAT, Healthcare Action Team, Planning for Elders in the Central City:
What do you think about this veteran’s being dumped?
“It is scandalous that people who were soldiers in a war are left in the cold when they have medical problems. What a disrespectful and criminal way to treat veterans who risk their lives for this country!
“There are veterans coming back with serious disorders that they will not be able to access services for. That’s going to be a very powerful force for health care reform.
“In San Francisco the problem is not so much hospitals dumping patients on the street as dumping them into shelters or places that cannot provide for them.
“A person who had hip surgery was discharged to Buster’s Place where you have to sit in a chair. You can get help only if you’re fortunate enough to have a really aggressive case manager to help bend the system. Some case managers got him into a shelter. He slept there one night, then split. They haven’t seen him since.
“Hospital dumping is a system problem, and it directly relates to the lack of available housing.
“If Mark Damron had a house to go to—not just some funky SRO where he is surrounded by chaos and crack—but, a decent place with a bathroom and a sink and stove, and windows and walls,—he’d be a lot better off.”
Carol