The outreach worker first encountered JG at the Ozanam Inn homeless shelter where the 74-year-old man had been staying for the past two weeks. JG sat in his wheelchair in the sun while complaining of pains from his stage four liver cancer (for which the doctor had prescribed him chemotherapy treatment). JG was not compliant with his medications and was also engaging in street drug use. The client had been weakening under these stressful conditions and was in need of skilled care. The outreach worker called several nursing homes to see about placement. After the client fell at the shelter, the outreach worker took him to the ER in order to prepare the client for placement in a nursing facility. It was discovered that the client had previously been in an uptown nursing home but had run away and found his way into the shelter. The outreach worker called the nursing home representative and together they coordinated JG’s nursing home evaluation to be re-admitted into a nursing home.
The client went missing for several days, and the outreach worker stopped-in daily to see if he had returned. On the day before his long-term Medicaid benefits were to expire, JG showed up at the Ozanam Inn. If one more day had passed, the client would have been ineligible for nursing home placement due to the expiration of his Medicaid benefits. Together the outreach worker and nursing home representative were able to complete all nursing home documentation and to have the client picked up for nursing home placement in Houma, Louisiana that same day. The client was happy to get off the streets and happy to resume his treatment for liver cancer in a safe environment.
