Homeless people

HOME ASSISTANCE AND REHABILITATION FOR HOMELESS PEOPLE C.A.R.P.I A.C.
Good morning ladies and Gentleman, I am Yolanda and today, I would like to talk to you about my work in CARPI with homeless people in Mexico, also about the rehabilitation programs for these people and also about the homeless people in Australia. First of all, I want to explain that homeless people exist in all countries,especially in undeveloped countries, because these countries haven’t the social infrastructure to cope with their social needs. Homeless people are found on the streets, sleeping on the rubbish and also under the bridges. Among the main reasons for people to stay on the streets are family breakdown, addiction, alcoholism, emotional crisis, unemployment and homelessness. The homeless are people whohave lost everything or have never had anything, just ... no sense of belonging. In other words, they don’t have family, nor home and they have lost themselves. These people are living in one of the most vulnerable situations in the society. Taking into account the needs of these homeless, is the basis CARPI, which is a nonprofit association dedicated to providing support to the homeless with mentalproblems to help them recover their dignity by offering personal attention and attending to homeless people with specific characteristics. So this is the reason why CARPI tries to compensate for this lack in the society. In this institution, we have qualified personnel to attend different needs of these homeless, like social workers, nurses, therapists, psychiatrists, psychologists, cooks andothers. Work begins with the social workers, who answer the call of society to pick up the homeless who have been reported. These are transferred to the institution. Once he is here, the homeless person receives primary care such as showers, and is given clean clothes, also food, then is placed in a room isolated from other patients to be examined by a doctor who determines that the patient has noinfection such as AIDS threatening the inmates of the institution. After that, the psychiatrist takes the principle role because he has the responsibility of determining the mental status of the patient and together with the psychologist, works towards in the mental recovery of these people. Nurses and therapists, also have an important role, with nurses checking the vital signs of the patients aswell as having the responsibility of providing drugs as prescribed by the doctor. Therapists are responsible for performing different co-ordination therapy in patients. Rehabilitation of the patients is not fast, as it takes a long time before they are rehabilitated into society as productive citizens. For example, the psychiatrist can take about six months to stabilize the patient's mental statethrough drugs. Those with the most serious mental problems often put themselves as well as other at risk. For example, I remember entering a patient’s room in isolation because he was not responding to medical treatment, and I wanted to persuade him to take his medicine, the patient suddenly attacked me thinking I was a friend of President Bush and I was making war on Mexico. Four therapists weresoon there to help me and it was not easy because these patients develop a lot of physical strength. That is why we cannot take the mental situation of these patients lightly.

After this period of stabilization, the patient gradually begins to incorporate the various activities which are scheduled. Patients all the time are under the supervision of the doctors, nurses and therapists, who areresponsible for going to see the development of individual patients. There are cases where patients do not achieve a full recovery because the damage they have is more severe, in these cases, they continue living in the institution. When one considers that a patient is eligible to join an active life in society, then social workers seek support from businesses for the patient to work there, and...