Photo By Eric Brown | Veteran German Leon was homeless for 22 years before entering the Atlanta VA Medical...... read more read more
“I’ve been a social worker for 30 years and I’ve never experienced a case like this.”
That’s how Atlanta VA Medical Center Social Worker Patrice Green described her experience working with an extremely challenging homeless Veteran for part of last year.
In February 2015, Green, who is a social worker for the Healthcare for Homeless Veterans Program, admitted 53-year-old Veteran German Leon, who was recently transferred from the VA’s inpatient psychiatric unit, into one of 10 emergency contract beds that she manages at the Gateway facility in Atlanta—a facility aimed at providing temporary shelter for homeless Veterans.
“He had absolutely nothing,” Green said astonishingly.
Once Leon was stabilized and was administered the proper medications he became more coherent and began to realize he was in a non-threatening environment. “Just trust me a little bit and I’ll work with you,” Green said.
Initially, Leon was belligerent, psychotic, threatening, and in short, was very difficult for Green and her staff to interview. However, he eventually calmed down and began to share his astonishing story—or what he could remember of it.
Green learned Leon was born in Panama and came to the U.S. as a teenager, along with his mother and two sisters, and enlisted in the U.S. military at the age of 18.
Leon confessed to Green that he could not recall much of his life following his military service. “Much of his life was still a lost memory,” Green said. “But he could recall that he return to from the military and began living with his mother and sisters, but then left that home around the age of 22,” Green added.
“I asked him how long he had been wandering around homeless, and he replied ‘years and years’,” Green said. Finally, Leon stated that he had been homeless for about 22 years, 10 of which were in the Atlanta area. Green said Leon told her he had been living in parks, in wooded areas, under highway overpasses, or temporary stays in homeless shelters.
Leon knew he had not been in contact with his family for at least 22 years and he had no idea where they may be, and only had their names.
Gateway staff members Terrance Cooley, Tonya Boose, and Intern Marissa Jones, were all perplexed because Leon had no identification, which ultimately made it very hard to assist him with benefits, housing or for him to receive assistance of any kind.
“We tried to get an ID for him through immigration,” Green said. However, without identification of any kind, the U.S. Immigration Office could not assist.
“We hit a dead end,” Green said.
When Green’s attempt for information on the internet site People Search didn’t deliver, Jones, the young VA intern suggested they try using Facebook.
The two of them decided to create a post using the names the Leon recalled, as well as fragmented information they discovered on the People Search website.
“We used the same names and created an e-mail stating that we were looking for family of a certain vet born in Panama,” Green said. “The very next day, I got a call from a sister, who asked ‘is this a joke?’” “No. I have your brother here,” replied Green.
Crying in Panamanian, Leon’s sister exclaimed that they’ve been looking for him and explained that she wanted to drive down from South Carolina to pick-up her brother.
Unfortunately, Leon’s sister informed him that his mother had passed away earlier that year.
Leon’s sister stated her mother had said he would come back some day. “She never gave up hope,” Leon’s sister said to Green. While this reunion was bittersweet, it was also one of joy and hope as the sisters were able to find documents necessary for the Veteran to receive his proper identification, to include his original immigration documents.
The Gateway staff, now armed with Leon’s identification, was able to reunite the Veteran with his two sisters in Charleston, S.C. where he currently resides with them. They are happy to report positive progress and that the Veteran is living a happy life.
The staff used a multidisciplinary team approach which ultimately was essential and played a pivotal role in ensuring that this Veteran’s needs were met and that a happy ending was achieved!
| Date Taken: | 07.27.2016 |
| Date Posted: | 07.27.2016 15:28 |
| Story ID: | 205237 |
| Location: | ATLANTA, GA, US |
| Web Views: | 159 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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