LETTER: Essay on being homeless in Las Vegas was enlightening
Thank you for printing the story on being homeless in Las Vegas by Ron Moore (Oct. 27 Review-Journal). Interestingly, it was next to Wayne Allyn Root’s column, whose raves of the Trump economic “miracle” never do reach the homeless.
As a psych nurse for the past 12 years, I wince when I hear a patient will be discharged to the shelter. They are sent out with a plastic bag of their meager belongings, meds or scripts and bus passes for follow-up care. I wish them only the best and encourage good choices — meaning no street drugs and follow-up care as ordered. But only one meal? No wonder we get people who ravage the garbage and beg for crackers.
So many are not prepared for work. We give patients a stack of handouts that includes resources for vocational rehab, etc. But if someone is hearing voices in spite of meds and has no good clothing/shoes, no more bus passes and no phone, how is he or she equipped to break out of this soul-crushing routine, as Mr. Moore describes? Yes, this needs a miracle, all right.