Over the cubicle wall (Pam Orchard, CEO)

When I was at primary school, we used to play a game of shimmying up the toilet wall in an L shape - back flat on one side, legs out straight, feet flat on the other.  The real art was to get over the other side and walk down the next.  You could lock all the cubicles from the inside, then crawl under the door of the last.  I’m very sorry to the teachers at Applecroft Primary School, Welwyn Garden City – from 1977 to 1981 that was me. 

A well documented incident in hospital dramas is one in which someone very unwell, or under the influence, is trapped behind a cubicle door and requires urgent rescue.  A few days ago we had something similar happen here at Providence Row.

We hadn’t seen Rich for nine months.  In fact we had even been phoned by a partner service asking us “did we have details of his next of kin?”  Rich had apparently been found dead sleeping on the streets.  He had a history of rough sleeping in London for about the last five years – never engaging in any service long enough to start to get the help he needed.  In a recent presentation from Alex Bax from London Pathway, we found out that the average age at death from a sample of 131 homeless patients was 40.5 years[1]. 

Imagine our surprise when he turned up at Providence Row alive and very, very drunk.  Rich asked if he could use our toilets which - of course – he could.  After about 20 minutes, one of the staff realised that he hadn’t re-emerged.  Without wishing to intrude, the staff member went into our toilets to carefully investigate whether Rich was OK and was greeted by the sound of loud snoring and a locked door.  Rich had fallen asleep in his cubicle of choice with the three pairs of trousers he was wearing still crumpled down at his feet.

I’ll spare you the technical detail of our toilet door locking system – but the only way in was over the top.  One of our more lithe and adventurous staff members climbed in from an adjacent cubicle.  He and a colleague respectfully helped an almost asleep Rich tidy himself up and make himself presentable.  He was brought back to life for the second time that day.  Eventually he left the centre, once again unable or unwilling to tell us more about how he was, where he’d been for the last nine months and why he was drinking so much.

Our experience with Rich is bitter sweet.  We were very pleased to see he was still alive, but sorry and frustrated that we weren’t able to really find out why he is still sleeping on the streets after five years.  The whole incident was sad, awful and quite dramatic, as well as quirky and at times, quite funny – it has certainly been a talking point since.   

Next time Rich comes in, we will try to engage him in our Activity Programme.  We want to know more about who he is, what went wrong for him and how we can work with him to start to make things go a bit better again.  He might find our art workshop a useful way to express himself and tell us his story in his own way. Have a look on our Facebook page for pictures of work exhibited by art workshop participants.

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[1] Research by Hewett et al BJGP 2011; 61: 200–202.

An unexpected visitor...Pam Orchard, CEO

A very unusual incident occurred a couple of weeks ago.  A client came in with a sports bag and asked the staff to have a look inside.  It is with some trepidation that one of our project workers opened the zip, rather concerned about what she would find.

So – what was in that bag?  Well, the client had brought in a ferret. He found it in on the street, by a school in Forest Gate.  The client was from Poland and, language proving to be quite a barrier, we weren’t able to establish much more than that.  The history of that ferret and how it had presented at our service was unclear.  The ferret didn’t bite anyone and was very friendly.  Whatever the background to the ferret, it needed a meal, a drink, a poo and a wash.  We were able to help with the first three. We phoned the RSPCA, who came to collect the ferret, so that they could provide  more specialist care and a temporary home.  We logged this outcome as “supported reconnection” on our monitoring sheet.

Although only a ferret, I am delighted to see that the staff treated it with kindness and respect.  I am also very glad that it was taken away after two hours.  Looking after animals is not really our area of expertise.  Obviously we are more concerned about people – particularly homeless ones.

Interesting things happen every day at Providence Row.  What really touched me about this story was that, although homeless and in need of help, that client took the time and trouble to catch that ferret.  He took the necessary action to ensure it was cared for.  I have been wondering why he did that.  Was it a love of animals?  Was it because he wanted the ferret to be reunited with its owner?  Did he think the people of Forest Gate needed to be saved from the terror of a stray ferret?  Whatever the reason, that client acted extremely responsibly, despite his own difficult circumstances.  Would I have done the same?

All of our clients have a story to tell about why they need help from a homelessness charity.  The stories are sometimes scary and traumatic, others are just very, very sad.  We also hear about the mistakes people have made and how they have hurt themselves and those around them.  Some people only tell us a piece of the story and it can take a while to assemble a more complete picture.  Some people don’t tell us very much at all (much like the ferret).

Having said that, I think it’s important to emphasise that people aren’t like ferrets.  We need to offer much more than a meal, basic washing and toilet facilities to the people that come to our door. Our job is to help people to deal with the underlying causes of their homelessness as well as their immediate needs.  That’s why, over the coming year, we will be focusing a lot of attention on our mental health and substance misuse services, as well as our skills and learning activities.  Find out more about how our work with some of society’s most vulnerable people is developing by looking at our website www.providencerow.org.uk, following us on Twitter and liking us on Facebook.