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today spoted a homeless guy sleeping next to a business - Page 2 — Brooklynian

today spoted a homeless guy sleeping next to a business

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  • carnivore
    carnivore
    Jack Krohn wrote: I agree with what you say, Carnivore, but in the end these types usually decline all services and are promptly discharged, often to show up again to repeat the process in less than a month. I used to work in an ER and saw this pattern all the time.
    They're not allowed to decline services if they're intoxicated. They have to stay under observation, physically restrained if necessary, until they're sober and allowed to make decisions for themselves again. So if "promptly" means 6-12 hours, then I agree with you. But if your home or business isn't right by the hospital, the patient probably isn't coming back to the same spot (at least any time soon), so the homeowner or businessperson has accomplished their own selfish goal.
  • boogieknight
    boogieknight
    Carnivore wrote: [quote=Jack Krohn]I agree with what you say, Carnivore, but in the end these types usually decline all services and are promptly discharged, often to show up again to repeat the process in less than a month. I used to work in an ER and saw this pattern all the time.
    They're not allowed to decline services if they're intoxicated. They have to stay under observation, physically restrained if necessary, until they're sober and allowed to make decisions for themselves again. So if "promptly" means 6-12 hours, then I agree with you. But if your home or business isn't right by the hospital, the patient probably isn't coming back to the same spot (at least any time soon), so the homeowner or businessperson has accomplished their own selfish goal.

    Eesh, as a homeowner, is it really so selfish of me not to want ahomeless guy sleeping it off and/or jerking off in front of my house? Is it really so much to ask?

    Or is the selfish part wanting the cops/emts to do it for me? If I kick the homeless guy in the ass and tell him/her to skedaddle, is that better?
  • carnivore
    carnivore
    No, it's not selfish to want him gone. And I agree that if he's masturbating, that's another reason to want him gone. But if he was publicly masturbating, then you have a legitimate grievance to have the police pick him up.

    What is selfish is abusing the EMS and hospital system at great expense to the city (the drunk homeless guy is never going to pay), especially at a time when most local ERs are already beyond capacity, just to try to move someone that you don't want in front of your home. Some of these guys have hundreds of ER visits a year, at almost $1000 a visit including the ambulance ride.
  • armchair_warrior
    armchair_warrior
    i wish they have a direct number to the homeless department, what ever they are called. instead of 311. they usually would come and talk to these dudes. but other wise next most effective thing like the business owner did was give him a few bucks to go buy booze to leave the area.
  • ringrunner
    ringrunner
    Was the guy sleeping with his hand in his pants or was he masturbating? The first could be a call to 311, the second is a 911 call.
  • raw
    raw

    Subject: Re: today spoted a homeless guy sleeping next to a business

    armchair_warrior wrote: [quote=Drunken Revival]You ever think that he may have been tired? Being homeless isn't all rainbows and warm mittens you know.

    I mean it's probably easier than being a little bitch, but come give the guy a break.... for one thing that's crack alley... the one place in Park Slope where the homeless rule.

    Let the man sleep for christ's sake - he might get hungry and need to rob some food later... can't exactly steal while all run down and shit.

    you want to give me your address i'll make sure to send him and his friends over to your place :).
    I've got a few homeless guys too who want to sleep with Drunken Revival.
  • jack krohn
    jack krohn
    Carnivore, 6-12 hours in a psychiatric ER is a very short time, especially in a public hospital (some people linger for as long as a week!) But then they typically decline services and are given a one-way metrocard to a detox facility (which counts as a discharge plan and covers the hospital, but which the patients never attend). They then go right back to their hangouts, only to return to the ER a few weeks later to repeat the cycle.

    Yes, these cases cost the city an awful lot of money and in the end the problems remain. Some cities have instituted programs that basically provide housing for these chronic cases without requiring sobriety, as it's cheaper than repeat hospitalizations and ER visits. Here's a link to a study that claims this approach saved money and actually showed a reduction in alcohol use amongst some residents.

    http://www.oregonlive.com/news/index.ssf/2009/03/study_seattle_housing_for_alco.html
  • carnivore
    carnivore
    Jack Krohn wrote: Carnivore, 6-12 hours in a psychiatric ER is a very short time, especially in a public hospital (some people linger for as long as a week!)
    Psychiatric ERs will not take intoxicated patients. They are sent to the medical ER, and only sent to psychiatry if they are "medically cleared" which includes not being intoxicated.
    Jack Krohn wrote: But then they typically decline services and are given a one-way metrocard to a detox facility (which counts as a discharge plan and covers the hospital, but which the patients never attend). They then go right back to their hangouts, only to return to the ER a few weeks later to repeat the cycle.
    Definitely true, except that the hardcore cases often have ER visits daily, sometimes even multiple visits per day. Also, their typical "hangouts" aren't in front of someone's home, so if they wound up there and got picked up by an ambulance, they're likely to go somewhere else when they get out.
    Jack Krohn wrote: Yes, these cases cost the city an awful lot of money and in the end the problems remain. Some cities have instituted programs that basically provide housing for these chronic cases without requiring sobriety, as it's cheaper than repeat hospitalizations and ER visits. Here's a link to a study that claims this approach saved money and actually showed a reduction in alcohol use amongst some residents.

    http://www.oregonlive.com/news/index.ssf/2009/03/study_seattle_housing_for_alco.html
    This wouldn't surprise me at all. I haven't read that study yet, but I'd be concerned that some of these people might get significant medical illness that gets missed by keeping them out of the ER. Sometimes these guys are actually really sick.
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