December 4, 2008
Northwest Suburban National Alliance on Mental Illness/Northwest Suburban recently announced its four nominees were named winners in the NAMI Illinois awards program.
Todd Shields, a reporter for Pioneer Press, Northwest Group, received the John Rowley Excellence in Journalism Award.
The award recognized "a member of the print or electronic media who, through their efforts, has contributed to the fight against stigma or raised awareness of mental health issues."
Contributing to the award-winning series "No Place to Call Home," Shields wrote four articles detailing daily life of the homeless, including the mentally ill, on the streets of Arlington Heights and in the shelters of McHenry and Lake counties.
"Fighting stigma head-on," the nomination states, "he actually lived life as a homeless person, for a period of time, in order to gain insight to the struggles of the homeless community.
"He became personally connected with several of these persons and gave them support as they lived through their desperate daily ordeals. ... Through his journalism, Mr. Shields brought awareness to our communities, not only of the trials of homeless mentally ill persons, but also of the courage which many possess."
A team of Pioneer Press reporters wrote articles on help centers, food pantries, counseling and crisis intervention centers, as well as the NAMI affiliates in the north and northwest Chicago suburban area.
Other winners included:
* Doctor Maxim Chasanov was named Psychiatrist of the Year. The award recognizes "a physician who either through direct care to consumers or their involvement with, and support of, a NAMI Illinois affiliate, has contributed to the lives of NAMI Illinois members."
* Star Roberts was named Outstanding Family Support Group Facilitator service and to the NAMI Family Support Group program.
Roberts is the long-standing facilitator for NAMI Northwest Suburban's Family Support Group which meets monthly at the Alexian Brothers Center for Mental Health, Hoffman Estates. After her young-adult son committed suicide, Roberts began her mission to tell his story, connect with others through her personal experiences, and encourage them to never give up hope for their own loved ones.
"Not only does Roberts facilitate the family support group, but she also answers NAMI Northwest Suburban's telephone HelpLine - ensuring that all who reach out for help receive a caring reply. ... She took her grief and turned it into a positive energy to help others," stated the nomination.
* Donna Watt was named Outstanding Consumer Support Group Facilitator for her exemplary service and dedication to the NAMI Connections Recovery Support Group program.
Watt is the founding facilitator for NAMI Northwest Suburban's Connections Recovery Support Group, which has been meeting weekly at the Alexian Brothers Center for Mental Health.
Free NAMI Connections Recovery Support Group meetings are available in Arlington Heights, in Elk Grove Village, Evanston, Hoffman Estates and Park Ridge.
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Monday, December 8, 2008
Saturday, December 6, 2008
Cancer Patients End Up Homeless
difficulty making ends meet and most often end up selling their homes according to a survey conducted in Ireland. The study included 1,751 people.//
People diagnosed with cancer experience loss of income, as they are unable to report to work regularly and at the same time face a number of extra costs, as a result end up selling their homes.
The Macmillan cancer Support research indicated that almost 20% had difficulties in keeping up with their mortgage or rental payments. About 6 % lost their homes. Even11% of those who were self-employed, said they had lost their home.
Extra costs include medical and prescription charges, hospital charges, extra expense on special diets, according to the survey.
Peter Cardy, the charity's chief executive said,"Having cancer should not cost you your home. These figures show that, through cancer, as many as 45,000 people each year are struggling to keep a roof over their heads and 15,000 have lost their homes.”
"Too many people are facing overwhelming financial pressures at a time when they are fighting cancer - borrowing money, moving in with family, selling up or moving to help make ends meet. Some even face repossession.”
"Macmillan is raising awareness of this desperate financial situation to help prevent more cancer patients from reaching crisis point."
The charity has decided to help all cancer patients by giving them access to advice on specialist benefits and financial help.
It has also launched a new "Hitting Home" campaign that help patients to check their insurance policies, and get advice on claiming benefits.
It is reported that 39,000 people are living with cancer in Northern Ireland.
PR
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Date:12/13/2006
People diagnosed with cancer experience loss of income, as they are unable to report to work regularly and at the same time face a number of extra costs, as a result end up selling their homes.
The Macmillan cancer Support research indicated that almost 20% had difficulties in keeping up with their mortgage or rental payments. About 6 % lost their homes. Even11% of those who were self-employed, said they had lost their home.
Extra costs include medical and prescription charges, hospital charges, extra expense on special diets, according to the survey.
Peter Cardy, the charity's chief executive said,"Having cancer should not cost you your home. These figures show that, through cancer, as many as 45,000 people each year are struggling to keep a roof over their heads and 15,000 have lost their homes.”
"Too many people are facing overwhelming financial pressures at a time when they are fighting cancer - borrowing money, moving in with family, selling up or moving to help make ends meet. Some even face repossession.”
"Macmillan is raising awareness of this desperate financial situation to help prevent more cancer patients from reaching crisis point."
The charity has decided to help all cancer patients by giving them access to advice on specialist benefits and financial help.
It has also launched a new "Hitting Home" campaign that help patients to check their insurance policies, and get advice on claiming benefits.
It is reported that 39,000 people are living with cancer in Northern Ireland.
PR
'"/>
Date:12/13/2006
Hate Crimes & Violence Against Homeless People Increasing
Washington D.C. - For the past six years (1999-2004), the National Coalition for the Homeless (NCH) has tracked and reported on a disturbing increase in crimes targeting homeless people. These violent attacks on homeless people, one of our most vulnerable populations, result in injury and in many cases death.
The well-documented affordable housing crisis is not the only crisis to affect the millions of people who are homeless every year. There is also an increasing pattern of civil rights abuses and violence directed at the homeless population. Homelessness is no longer simply an issue of the right to affordable housing but a matter of life and death. As the danger of living without a home increases, the lack of federal housing resources as well as the absence of the political will to end homelessness becomes increasingly more shameful.
In October of 2004, three Milwaukee teens murdered a homeless man at his forest campsite. The teens hit 49-year-old Rex Baum, with rocks, a flashlight, and a pipe, before smearing feces on his face and covering his body with leaves and plastic.
In August of 2004, Curtis Gordon Adams, 33, beat and stabbed a disabled homeless man to death and then licked the blood from his fingers on a Denver sidewalk.
More recently, on May 28th 2005, in Holly Hill, Florida, 53-year-old Michael Roberts was beaten and punched to death with sticks and logs by a group of teenagers who admitted to beating the man just for fun, to have something to do. The autopsy report indicates that Roberts died of blunt-force trauma to the head and body, his ribs were broken, his skull was fractured, and his legs were badly injured. Defensive wounds were found on his hands. The boys returned several times to make sure the job was done.
Homelessness is an issue that affects every community in America. Homeless people lack the protection of a locked door available to homeowners, leaving them in an unprotected position where they are subjected to hate crimes and violence. Sadly, the prevalence of hate crimes and violence against homeless people has risen, as well as negative stereotypes reinforced by the media and intolerant people.
Through this report, NCH hopes to educate lawmakers, advocates, and the public about the problem of hate crimes and violence against homeless people, as well as call for a U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) study addressing this issue.
This year's report, Hate, Violence and Death on Main Street USA: A Report on Hate Crimes and Violence Against People Experiencing Homelessness in 2004, includes data from news reports, advocates, victims' accounts, and homeless shelters on the number of homeless victimizations that have occurred in the past six years (for the full 2004 report and previous reports, please visit http://nationalhomeless.org/civilrights/hatecrimes.html).
Facts and Trends:
* The number of homeless deaths has risen by 67% since 2002.
* The number of non-lethal attacks against homeless people has risen by 281% since 2002.
* These crimes occurred in 140 cities in the past six years.
* These crimes occurred in 39 states, plus Puerto Rico.
* The age range of the accused/convicted ranged from 11 to 65 years of age.
* The age range of the victims ranged from 4 Months old to 74 Years of age.
* Gender of victims: 296 Male and 44 Female.
The well-documented affordable housing crisis is not the only crisis to affect the millions of people who are homeless every year. There is also an increasing pattern of civil rights abuses and violence directed at the homeless population. Homelessness is no longer simply an issue of the right to affordable housing but a matter of life and death. As the danger of living without a home increases, the lack of federal housing resources as well as the absence of the political will to end homelessness becomes increasingly more shameful.
In October of 2004, three Milwaukee teens murdered a homeless man at his forest campsite. The teens hit 49-year-old Rex Baum, with rocks, a flashlight, and a pipe, before smearing feces on his face and covering his body with leaves and plastic.
In August of 2004, Curtis Gordon Adams, 33, beat and stabbed a disabled homeless man to death and then licked the blood from his fingers on a Denver sidewalk.
More recently, on May 28th 2005, in Holly Hill, Florida, 53-year-old Michael Roberts was beaten and punched to death with sticks and logs by a group of teenagers who admitted to beating the man just for fun, to have something to do. The autopsy report indicates that Roberts died of blunt-force trauma to the head and body, his ribs were broken, his skull was fractured, and his legs were badly injured. Defensive wounds were found on his hands. The boys returned several times to make sure the job was done.
Homelessness is an issue that affects every community in America. Homeless people lack the protection of a locked door available to homeowners, leaving them in an unprotected position where they are subjected to hate crimes and violence. Sadly, the prevalence of hate crimes and violence against homeless people has risen, as well as negative stereotypes reinforced by the media and intolerant people.
Through this report, NCH hopes to educate lawmakers, advocates, and the public about the problem of hate crimes and violence against homeless people, as well as call for a U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) study addressing this issue.
This year's report, Hate, Violence and Death on Main Street USA: A Report on Hate Crimes and Violence Against People Experiencing Homelessness in 2004, includes data from news reports, advocates, victims' accounts, and homeless shelters on the number of homeless victimizations that have occurred in the past six years (for the full 2004 report and previous reports, please visit http://nationalhomeless.org/civilrights/hatecrimes.html).
Facts and Trends:
* The number of homeless deaths has risen by 67% since 2002.
* The number of non-lethal attacks against homeless people has risen by 281% since 2002.
* These crimes occurred in 140 cities in the past six years.
* These crimes occurred in 39 states, plus Puerto Rico.
* The age range of the accused/convicted ranged from 11 to 65 years of age.
* The age range of the victims ranged from 4 Months old to 74 Years of age.
* Gender of victims: 296 Male and 44 Female.
Swat Team conducts food raid in rural Ohio
On Monday, December 1, a SWAT team with semi-automatic rifles entered the private home of the Stowers family in LaGrange, Ohio, herded the family onto the couches in the living room, and kept guns trained on parents, children, infants and toddlers, from approximately 11 AM to 8 PM. The team was aggressive and belligerent. The children were quite traumatized. At some point, the “bad cop” SWAT team was relieved by another team, a “good cop” team that tried to befriend the family. The Stowers family has run a very large, well-known food cooperative called Manna Storehouse on the western side of the greater Cleveland area for many years.
There were agents from the Department of Agriculture present, one of them identified as Bill Lesho. The search warrant is reportedly suspicious-looking. Agents began rifling through all of the family’s possessions, a task that lasted hours and resulted in a complete upheaval of every private area in the home. Many items were taken that were not listed on the search warrant. The family was not permitted a phone call, and they were not told what crime they were being charged with. They were not read their rights. Over ten thousand dollars worth of food was taken, including the family’s personal stock of food for the coming year. All of their computers, and all of their cell phones were taken, as well as phone and contact records. The food cooperative was virtually shut down. There was no rational explanation, nor justification, for this extreme violation of Constitutional rights.
Presumably Manna Storehouse might eventually be charged with running a retail establishment without a license. Why then the Gestapo-type interrogation for a 3rd degree misdemeanor charge? This incident has raised the ominous specter of a restrictive new era in State regulation and enforcement over the nation’s private food supply.
This same type of abusive search and seizure was reported by those innocents who fell victim to oppressive federal drug laws passed in the 1990s. The present circumstance raises the obvious question: is there some rabid new interpretation of an existing drug law that considers food a controlled substance worthy of a nasty SWAT operation? Or worse, is there a previously unrecognized provision(s) pertaining to food in the Homeland Security measures? Some have suggested that it was merely an out-of-control, hot-to-trot ODA agent, and, if so, this would be a best-case scenario. Anything else might spell the beginning of the end for the freedom to eat unregulated and unmonitored food.
One blogger familiar with the Ohio situation has reported that:
“Interestingly, I believe they [Manna Storehouse] said a month or so ago, an undercover ODA official came to their little store and claimed to have a sick father wanting to join the co-op. Both the owner and her daughter-in-law had a horrible feeling about the man, and decided not to allow him into the co-op and notified him by certified mail. He came back to the co-op demanding to be part of it. They refused and gave him names of other businesses and health food stores closer to his home. Not coincidentally, this man was there yesterday as part of the raid.”
The same blog also noted that the Ohio Department of Agriculture has been chastised by the courts in several previous instances for its aggression, including trying to entrap an Amish man in a raw milk “sale,” which backfired when it became known that the Amish believe in a literal interpretation of “give to him that asketh thee, and from him that would borrow of thee turn not thou away” (Matthew 5:42)
The issue appears to be the discovery of a bit of non-institutional beef in an Oberlin College food service freezer a year ago that was tracked down by a county sanitation official to Manna Storehouse. Oberlin College’s student food coop is widely known for its strident ideological stance about eating organic foods. It seems that the Oberlin student food cooperative had joined the Manna Storehouse food cooperative in order to buy organic foods in bulk from the national organic food distributor United, which services buying clubs across the nation. The sanitation official, James Boddy, evidently contacted the Ohio Department of Agriculture. After the first contact by state ODA officials, Manna Storehouse reportedly wrote them a letter requesting assistance and guidelines for complying with the law. This letter was never answered. Rather, the ODA agent tried several times to infiltrate the coop, as described above. When his attempts failed, the SWAT team showed up!
Food cooperatives and buying clubs have been an active part of the American landscape for over a generation. In the 1970s, with the rise of the organic food industry (a direct outgrowth of the hippie back-to-nature movement) food coops started up all over the country. These were groups of people who freely associated for the purpose of combining their buying power so that they could order organic food items in bulk and case lots. Anyone who was part of these coops in the early era will remember the messy breakdown of 35 pounds of peanut butter and 5 gallon drums of honey!
These buying clubs have persisted and flourished over the years due to their ability to purchase high quality organic foods at reduced prices in bulk quantities. Most cooperatives have participated greatly in the local agrarian economies, supporting neighborhood organic farmers with purchases of produce, eggs, chickens, etc. The groups also purchase food from a number of different local, regional and national distributors, many of them family-based businesses who truck the food themselves. Some of these food cooperatives have become large enough to set up mini-storefront operations where members can drop in and purchase items leftover from case lot sales. Manna Storehouse had established itself in such a manner, using a small enclosed breezeway attached to their home. It was a folksy place with old wooden floors where coop members stopped by to chat and snack on bags of organic corn chips.
The state of Ohio boasts the second largest Amish population in the country. Many of the Amish live on acreages where they raise their own food, not unlike Manna Storehouse, and sell off the extras to neighbors and church members. There is a sense of foreboding that this state crackdown on a longstanding, reputable food cooperative operation could adversely impact the peaceful agrarian way of life not only for the Amish, but homeschoolers and those families living off the land on rural acreages. It raises the disturbing possibility that it could become a crime to raise your own food, buy eggs from the farmer down the road, or butcher your own chickens for family and friends – bustling activities that routinely take place in backwater America.
The freedom to purchase food directly form the source is increasingly under attack. For those who have food allergies and chemical intolerances, or who are on special medical diets, this is becoming a serious health issue. Will Americans retain the right to purchase food that is uncontaminated by pesticides, herbicides, allergens, additives, dyes, preservatives, MSG, GMOs, radiation, etc.? The melamine scare from China underscores the increasingly inferior and suspect quality of modern processed institutional foods. One blog, commenting on the bizarre and troubling Manna Storehouse situation, observed that:
“No one is saying exactly why. At the same time the FDA says it is safe to eat the 40% of tainted beef found in Costco's and Sam's all over the nation. These farm raids are very common now. Every farmer needs to fully equipped [sic] for the possibility of it happening to them. The Farmer To Consumer Legal Defense Fund was created just for this purpose. The USDA just released their plans to put a law into action that will put all small farmers out of business. Animals for the sale of meat or milk will only be allowed in commercial farms, even the organic ones.” December 3, 2008 7:09 PM
There were agents from the Department of Agriculture present, one of them identified as Bill Lesho. The search warrant is reportedly suspicious-looking. Agents began rifling through all of the family’s possessions, a task that lasted hours and resulted in a complete upheaval of every private area in the home. Many items were taken that were not listed on the search warrant. The family was not permitted a phone call, and they were not told what crime they were being charged with. They were not read their rights. Over ten thousand dollars worth of food was taken, including the family’s personal stock of food for the coming year. All of their computers, and all of their cell phones were taken, as well as phone and contact records. The food cooperative was virtually shut down. There was no rational explanation, nor justification, for this extreme violation of Constitutional rights.
Presumably Manna Storehouse might eventually be charged with running a retail establishment without a license. Why then the Gestapo-type interrogation for a 3rd degree misdemeanor charge? This incident has raised the ominous specter of a restrictive new era in State regulation and enforcement over the nation’s private food supply.
This same type of abusive search and seizure was reported by those innocents who fell victim to oppressive federal drug laws passed in the 1990s. The present circumstance raises the obvious question: is there some rabid new interpretation of an existing drug law that considers food a controlled substance worthy of a nasty SWAT operation? Or worse, is there a previously unrecognized provision(s) pertaining to food in the Homeland Security measures? Some have suggested that it was merely an out-of-control, hot-to-trot ODA agent, and, if so, this would be a best-case scenario. Anything else might spell the beginning of the end for the freedom to eat unregulated and unmonitored food.
One blogger familiar with the Ohio situation has reported that:
“Interestingly, I believe they [Manna Storehouse] said a month or so ago, an undercover ODA official came to their little store and claimed to have a sick father wanting to join the co-op. Both the owner and her daughter-in-law had a horrible feeling about the man, and decided not to allow him into the co-op and notified him by certified mail. He came back to the co-op demanding to be part of it. They refused and gave him names of other businesses and health food stores closer to his home. Not coincidentally, this man was there yesterday as part of the raid.”
The same blog also noted that the Ohio Department of Agriculture has been chastised by the courts in several previous instances for its aggression, including trying to entrap an Amish man in a raw milk “sale,” which backfired when it became known that the Amish believe in a literal interpretation of “give to him that asketh thee, and from him that would borrow of thee turn not thou away” (Matthew 5:42)
The issue appears to be the discovery of a bit of non-institutional beef in an Oberlin College food service freezer a year ago that was tracked down by a county sanitation official to Manna Storehouse. Oberlin College’s student food coop is widely known for its strident ideological stance about eating organic foods. It seems that the Oberlin student food cooperative had joined the Manna Storehouse food cooperative in order to buy organic foods in bulk from the national organic food distributor United, which services buying clubs across the nation. The sanitation official, James Boddy, evidently contacted the Ohio Department of Agriculture. After the first contact by state ODA officials, Manna Storehouse reportedly wrote them a letter requesting assistance and guidelines for complying with the law. This letter was never answered. Rather, the ODA agent tried several times to infiltrate the coop, as described above. When his attempts failed, the SWAT team showed up!
Food cooperatives and buying clubs have been an active part of the American landscape for over a generation. In the 1970s, with the rise of the organic food industry (a direct outgrowth of the hippie back-to-nature movement) food coops started up all over the country. These were groups of people who freely associated for the purpose of combining their buying power so that they could order organic food items in bulk and case lots. Anyone who was part of these coops in the early era will remember the messy breakdown of 35 pounds of peanut butter and 5 gallon drums of honey!
These buying clubs have persisted and flourished over the years due to their ability to purchase high quality organic foods at reduced prices in bulk quantities. Most cooperatives have participated greatly in the local agrarian economies, supporting neighborhood organic farmers with purchases of produce, eggs, chickens, etc. The groups also purchase food from a number of different local, regional and national distributors, many of them family-based businesses who truck the food themselves. Some of these food cooperatives have become large enough to set up mini-storefront operations where members can drop in and purchase items leftover from case lot sales. Manna Storehouse had established itself in such a manner, using a small enclosed breezeway attached to their home. It was a folksy place with old wooden floors where coop members stopped by to chat and snack on bags of organic corn chips.
The state of Ohio boasts the second largest Amish population in the country. Many of the Amish live on acreages where they raise their own food, not unlike Manna Storehouse, and sell off the extras to neighbors and church members. There is a sense of foreboding that this state crackdown on a longstanding, reputable food cooperative operation could adversely impact the peaceful agrarian way of life not only for the Amish, but homeschoolers and those families living off the land on rural acreages. It raises the disturbing possibility that it could become a crime to raise your own food, buy eggs from the farmer down the road, or butcher your own chickens for family and friends – bustling activities that routinely take place in backwater America.
The freedom to purchase food directly form the source is increasingly under attack. For those who have food allergies and chemical intolerances, or who are on special medical diets, this is becoming a serious health issue. Will Americans retain the right to purchase food that is uncontaminated by pesticides, herbicides, allergens, additives, dyes, preservatives, MSG, GMOs, radiation, etc.? The melamine scare from China underscores the increasingly inferior and suspect quality of modern processed institutional foods. One blog, commenting on the bizarre and troubling Manna Storehouse situation, observed that:
“No one is saying exactly why. At the same time the FDA says it is safe to eat the 40% of tainted beef found in Costco's and Sam's all over the nation. These farm raids are very common now. Every farmer needs to fully equipped [sic] for the possibility of it happening to them. The Farmer To Consumer Legal Defense Fund was created just for this purpose. The USDA just released their plans to put a law into action that will put all small farmers out of business. Animals for the sale of meat or milk will only be allowed in commercial farms, even the organic ones.” December 3, 2008 7:09 PM
Thursday, December 4, 2008
Homeless' hospital stays tied to mental illness
Updated Thu. Aug. 30 2007 11:12 PM ET
CTV.ca News Staff
Mental disorders account for more than half of the hospital stays among the homeless in Canada, says a new report from the Canadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI).
And some emergency room doctors say they lack the resources to properly handle such cases.
"Most of the patients need interventions with social workers, psychologists, psychiatrists," Dr. Ricardo Lobato de Faria, of the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority, told CTV News.
"We really don't that in our ER system at the moment."
In 2005-2006, the study found that mental health disorders accounted for 52 per cent of acute care hospitalizations in Canada (outside Quebec).
Additionally, 35 per cent of homeless people who visited selected emergency departments (EDs), mostly in Ontario, were treated for mental and behavioural related disorders.
That figure is much higher than the 3 per cent of the general population who were treated for similar disorders during the same time period.
The most common problem that EDs dealt with when treating homeless people was substance abuse, accounting for 54 per cent of visits.
Pat Norman said he was driven to the streets of Winnipeg by depression, after the rape of his daughter tore his family apart. And now he tries to treat his sadness with alcohol and cheap drugs.
"It was the pain of what I walked in on. It's a constant flash," he said.
Psychotic disorders, such as schizophrenia, accounted for 20 per cent of visits.
The most common reason for ED visits for the general public is to be treated for injury and poisonings (25 per cent).
Among the general population, the most common reason for hospitalization is for pregnancy and childbirth (13 per cent).
Dr. Jennifer Zelmer, vice president of Research and Analysis at CIHI, said the findings show that the situation with homeless patients is much different than among other Canadians.
"Not everyone with a mental illness is homeless, but it is much more common for people who are homeless," said she said.
The report also notes many factors -- such as housing, income and the ability to cope -- that have been shown to contribute to the onset or duration of homelessness.
"People with severe mental illness may experience limited housing, employment and income options," Dr. Elizabeth Votta, an author of the report, says in the findings.
"On the other hand, people who are homeless tend to report higher stress, lower self-worth, less social support and different coping strategies, factors that are associated with depressive symptoms, substance abuse, suicidal behaviours and poor self-rated health."
With a report by CTV's Jill Macyshon in Winnipeg
CTV.ca News Staff
Mental disorders account for more than half of the hospital stays among the homeless in Canada, says a new report from the Canadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI).
And some emergency room doctors say they lack the resources to properly handle such cases.
"Most of the patients need interventions with social workers, psychologists, psychiatrists," Dr. Ricardo Lobato de Faria, of the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority, told CTV News.
"We really don't that in our ER system at the moment."
In 2005-2006, the study found that mental health disorders accounted for 52 per cent of acute care hospitalizations in Canada (outside Quebec).
Additionally, 35 per cent of homeless people who visited selected emergency departments (EDs), mostly in Ontario, were treated for mental and behavioural related disorders.
That figure is much higher than the 3 per cent of the general population who were treated for similar disorders during the same time period.
The most common problem that EDs dealt with when treating homeless people was substance abuse, accounting for 54 per cent of visits.
Pat Norman said he was driven to the streets of Winnipeg by depression, after the rape of his daughter tore his family apart. And now he tries to treat his sadness with alcohol and cheap drugs.
"It was the pain of what I walked in on. It's a constant flash," he said.
Psychotic disorders, such as schizophrenia, accounted for 20 per cent of visits.
The most common reason for ED visits for the general public is to be treated for injury and poisonings (25 per cent).
Among the general population, the most common reason for hospitalization is for pregnancy and childbirth (13 per cent).
Dr. Jennifer Zelmer, vice president of Research and Analysis at CIHI, said the findings show that the situation with homeless patients is much different than among other Canadians.
"Not everyone with a mental illness is homeless, but it is much more common for people who are homeless," said she said.
The report also notes many factors -- such as housing, income and the ability to cope -- that have been shown to contribute to the onset or duration of homelessness.
"People with severe mental illness may experience limited housing, employment and income options," Dr. Elizabeth Votta, an author of the report, says in the findings.
"On the other hand, people who are homeless tend to report higher stress, lower self-worth, less social support and different coping strategies, factors that are associated with depressive symptoms, substance abuse, suicidal behaviours and poor self-rated health."
With a report by CTV's Jill Macyshon in Winnipeg
St. Mary's Creates a Family for Homeless Seniors - Life Stories of Homeless Seniors
Oral History and Story by Trena Cleland
In the spring of 2004, the staff of St. Mary's Center in Oakland asked me to collect oral histories of several of their clients, formerly homeless men and women aged 55 and over. These elders of different races and backgrounds have survived in an often-hostile world with creativity and ingenuity, like modern-day pioneers.
But by the time they reached St. Mary's Center, age and life's vicissitudes had taken their toll. They needed help.
Each person has found new energy and renewed hope through their connection with the St. Mary's Center "family" and its spirit of high regard for all. How have these seniors changed as a result of addressing their circumstances from a holistic perspective - emotional, physical, sociological and spiritual - and finding fellowship with others? What could they teach the rest of us? I started the tape rolling, and they began to talk.
First, a look at the proud history of St. Mary's Center. This beloved nonprofit social service agency is housed in humble but functional quarters near 22nd and San Pablo Avenue in Oakland. Its staff and volunteers have served homeless and extremely low-income seniors in downtown and West Oakland since 1973.
They offer a holistic program that includes daily meals, help with housing, money management, recovery programs, mental health services, a link to healthcare, and support groups that incorporate music, art, and meditation. They also provide a preschool for homeless and low-income children.
Unlike more bureaucratic agencies, St. Mary's offers its services with personal attention, care, and compassion for each individual. Staff and community members also train clients in social justice advocacy and nonviolence.
I found the individual clients fascinating. Their reminiscences, like their lives, were rich and diverse. One elder had been in and out of prison for 28 years, often for bank robbery. His worldview has been utterly transformed by the attention of the caseworkers at St. Mary's. He now quotes Gandhi and is enrolled at Merritt College.
Another is a former biker, meth addict, and hell-raiser-with-a-heart-of-gold who has been nursed back to health by the staff. Another is a petite, articulate middle-class woman whose husband's extended illness and eventual death drove her into poverty and homelessness and who is now an outspoken advocate on mental health issues.
These culturally and racially diverse elders were born in the Depression era. Some grew up on farms in places like Greenville, Mississippi, and Natchitoches, Louisiana, and have idyllic memories of fishing and hunting; others came from small towns; a few were born and raised in the Bay Area in simpler, more peaceful times.
World War II and the Korean War - and later, Vietnam - took many of the men overseas, from which they returned to more chaotic, uncertain lives. Some married and raised families on a shoestring budget; others stayed single and spent their lives moving from city to city and job to job. Discrimination, economic hardship, and poor health dogged all of them.
Almost every client I met suffered from a mental illness or an addiction or both - a dual diagnosis disorder. Some have struggled their whole lives with these debilitating illnesses and ended up in the criminal justice system, rather than receiving appropriate mental health or substance abuse treatment. Others have lived functional but hardscrabble existences, making ends meet with menial jobs before their lives were ravaged by depression, illness, and homelessness.
When they arrived at St. Mary's Center, the people I interviewed were either sleeping on the street or were close to it. Most first entered the St. Mary's community through its winter homeless shelter, literally a life-saver for them.
The cold reality is that the population of homeless seniors is going up and up. Sky-high rents in the Bay Area make even the most Spartan lodgings prohibitively expensive. In Oakland, 17 percent of the people who are homeless each night are senior citizens - the highest percentage of seniors in poverty of any urban area in California.
Nonprofit housing developers are no longer able to afford building housing for people on SSI, income now referred to as "homeless income." Continual dismantling of the HUD program is a plan to make people homeless.
The profiles of seniors (on pages 6, 7 and 10 of this issue) illustrate the spirit of care and compassion for which St. Mary's Center has become renowned. My thanks go to the courageous elders who offered their personal testimonies, and to the inspiring staff and volunteers of St. Mary's Center. They all have my deep respect for the noble paths they are on.
For more information about St. Mary's Center or to volunteer, call (510) 893-4723 or visit www.stmaryscenter.org. For more information about personal/family oral histories and memoirs, contact Trena Cleland at (510) 524-7224, trenamarie@igc.org.
In the spring of 2004, the staff of St. Mary's Center in Oakland asked me to collect oral histories of several of their clients, formerly homeless men and women aged 55 and over. These elders of different races and backgrounds have survived in an often-hostile world with creativity and ingenuity, like modern-day pioneers.
But by the time they reached St. Mary's Center, age and life's vicissitudes had taken their toll. They needed help.
Each person has found new energy and renewed hope through their connection with the St. Mary's Center "family" and its spirit of high regard for all. How have these seniors changed as a result of addressing their circumstances from a holistic perspective - emotional, physical, sociological and spiritual - and finding fellowship with others? What could they teach the rest of us? I started the tape rolling, and they began to talk.
First, a look at the proud history of St. Mary's Center. This beloved nonprofit social service agency is housed in humble but functional quarters near 22nd and San Pablo Avenue in Oakland. Its staff and volunteers have served homeless and extremely low-income seniors in downtown and West Oakland since 1973.
They offer a holistic program that includes daily meals, help with housing, money management, recovery programs, mental health services, a link to healthcare, and support groups that incorporate music, art, and meditation. They also provide a preschool for homeless and low-income children.
Unlike more bureaucratic agencies, St. Mary's offers its services with personal attention, care, and compassion for each individual. Staff and community members also train clients in social justice advocacy and nonviolence.
I found the individual clients fascinating. Their reminiscences, like their lives, were rich and diverse. One elder had been in and out of prison for 28 years, often for bank robbery. His worldview has been utterly transformed by the attention of the caseworkers at St. Mary's. He now quotes Gandhi and is enrolled at Merritt College.
Another is a former biker, meth addict, and hell-raiser-with-a-heart-of-gold who has been nursed back to health by the staff. Another is a petite, articulate middle-class woman whose husband's extended illness and eventual death drove her into poverty and homelessness and who is now an outspoken advocate on mental health issues.
These culturally and racially diverse elders were born in the Depression era. Some grew up on farms in places like Greenville, Mississippi, and Natchitoches, Louisiana, and have idyllic memories of fishing and hunting; others came from small towns; a few were born and raised in the Bay Area in simpler, more peaceful times.
World War II and the Korean War - and later, Vietnam - took many of the men overseas, from which they returned to more chaotic, uncertain lives. Some married and raised families on a shoestring budget; others stayed single and spent their lives moving from city to city and job to job. Discrimination, economic hardship, and poor health dogged all of them.
Almost every client I met suffered from a mental illness or an addiction or both - a dual diagnosis disorder. Some have struggled their whole lives with these debilitating illnesses and ended up in the criminal justice system, rather than receiving appropriate mental health or substance abuse treatment. Others have lived functional but hardscrabble existences, making ends meet with menial jobs before their lives were ravaged by depression, illness, and homelessness.
When they arrived at St. Mary's Center, the people I interviewed were either sleeping on the street or were close to it. Most first entered the St. Mary's community through its winter homeless shelter, literally a life-saver for them.
The cold reality is that the population of homeless seniors is going up and up. Sky-high rents in the Bay Area make even the most Spartan lodgings prohibitively expensive. In Oakland, 17 percent of the people who are homeless each night are senior citizens - the highest percentage of seniors in poverty of any urban area in California.
Nonprofit housing developers are no longer able to afford building housing for people on SSI, income now referred to as "homeless income." Continual dismantling of the HUD program is a plan to make people homeless.
The profiles of seniors (on pages 6, 7 and 10 of this issue) illustrate the spirit of care and compassion for which St. Mary's Center has become renowned. My thanks go to the courageous elders who offered their personal testimonies, and to the inspiring staff and volunteers of St. Mary's Center. They all have my deep respect for the noble paths they are on.
For more information about St. Mary's Center or to volunteer, call (510) 893-4723 or visit www.stmaryscenter.org. For more information about personal/family oral histories and memoirs, contact Trena Cleland at (510) 524-7224, trenamarie@igc.org.
Higher Rates Of Mental Illness Among The Homeless In Western Countries
ScienceDaily (Dec. 1, 2008) — Homeless people in Western countries have substantially higher rates of mental health problems than the general population, according to results from a systematic review and meta-analysis published in PLoS Medicine.
Searching for studies over the past four decades containing data on the prevalence of mental disorders in homeless people, Seena Fazel and colleagues of the University of Oxford identified 29 studies involving 5,684 homeless individuals based in the US, UK, mainland Europe, and Australia. Combining the data from the surveys, the researchers found that the prevalence of serious mental disorders was raised compared with expected rates in the general population.
The most common mental disorders appeared to be alcohol and drug abuse, with pooled prevalence estimates of 37.9% (95% CI 27.8%–48.0%) and 24.4% (95% CI 13.2%–35.6%), respectively. Furthermore, the rate of alcohol abuse has increased in recent decades. The prevalence estimates for psychosis were found to be as high as those for depression which contrasts with community estimates and other "at risk" populations such as prisoners and refugees, where depression is more common.
In an accompanying Perspective, Helen Herrman of the University of Melbourne, who was uninvolved with the research, discusses the implications of the findings for policy and planning. She notes that "The rate of mental disorders among homeless people is useful information for advocacy and for monitoring policy and practice change in a community."
Searching for studies over the past four decades containing data on the prevalence of mental disorders in homeless people, Seena Fazel and colleagues of the University of Oxford identified 29 studies involving 5,684 homeless individuals based in the US, UK, mainland Europe, and Australia. Combining the data from the surveys, the researchers found that the prevalence of serious mental disorders was raised compared with expected rates in the general population.
The most common mental disorders appeared to be alcohol and drug abuse, with pooled prevalence estimates of 37.9% (95% CI 27.8%–48.0%) and 24.4% (95% CI 13.2%–35.6%), respectively. Furthermore, the rate of alcohol abuse has increased in recent decades. The prevalence estimates for psychosis were found to be as high as those for depression which contrasts with community estimates and other "at risk" populations such as prisoners and refugees, where depression is more common.
In an accompanying Perspective, Helen Herrman of the University of Melbourne, who was uninvolved with the research, discusses the implications of the findings for policy and planning. She notes that "The rate of mental disorders among homeless people is useful information for advocacy and for monitoring policy and practice change in a community."
Wednesday, December 3, 2008
America’s Homeless Children
More Than One Million Homeless Children
• At least 1.35 million children are homeless during a year’s time.
• One any given day 800,000 people are homeless in the United States, including 200,000 children in homeless
families.
• Families with children are among the fastest growing segment of the homeless population.
• Most children living with homeless parents are very young (42% are under the age of 6 years).
• Family homelessness is increasing. Requests for emergency shelter by families have increased every
year since 1985, with an average increase of 20% in 2002.
(Burt, 2001; Burt, Aron, Douglas, et al., 1999; National Coalition for the Homeless, 2002; U.S. Conference of Mayors, 2002)
Homelessness Hurts Children
Homelessness Makes Children Sick
• Homeless children get sick twice as often as other children. They have:
- Twice as many ear infections.
- Four times as many asthma attacks.
- Five times more stomach problems.
- Six times as many speech problems.
- Twice as many hospitalizations.
• Homeless children go hungry twice as often as other children and 25% of homeless children report eating less
after becoming homeless.
(National Center on Family Homelessness, 1999; Sandel, Sharfstein, and Shaw, 1999; Institute for Children and Poverty,
1999)
Homelessness Wounds Children
• Every day, homeless children are confronted with stressful, traumatic events. Within a single year:
- 97% of homeless children move, many up to three times.
- 22% are separated from their families to be put in foster care or to live with relatives.
- 25% have witnessed acts of violence within their family.
• Homeless children have many more mental health problems than other children.
- More than 20% of homeless preschoolers have emotional problems serious enough to require
professional care.
- 47% of homeless school age children have problems such as anxiety, depression, or
withdrawal, compared to 18% of other children.
(National Center on Family Homelessness, 1999; Institute for Children and Poverty, 1999)
Homeless Children Are Not Receiving The Services They Need
• Despite their multiple and complex needs, homeless children are not receiving the services they need. For
example:
- Nearly 20% of homeless children lack a regular source of medical care and 15% rely solely on
hospital emergency rooms.
- Less than 1/3 of homeless children who need help for their emotional problems are receiving it.
- Only 50-60% of homeless families are enrolled in Medicaid, although most are eligible.
- Only 71% of homeless families receive Food Stamps or WIC, although most are eligible.
- Only 37% of homeless children receive services that help them with enrollment,
attendance, and success in school.
- Only 15% of homeless children are in preschool programs, less than half the rate
of all children nationally.
• At least 1.35 million children are homeless during a year’s time.
• One any given day 800,000 people are homeless in the United States, including 200,000 children in homeless
families.
• Families with children are among the fastest growing segment of the homeless population.
• Most children living with homeless parents are very young (42% are under the age of 6 years).
• Family homelessness is increasing. Requests for emergency shelter by families have increased every
year since 1985, with an average increase of 20% in 2002.
(Burt, 2001; Burt, Aron, Douglas, et al., 1999; National Coalition for the Homeless, 2002; U.S. Conference of Mayors, 2002)
Homelessness Hurts Children
Homelessness Makes Children Sick
• Homeless children get sick twice as often as other children. They have:
- Twice as many ear infections.
- Four times as many asthma attacks.
- Five times more stomach problems.
- Six times as many speech problems.
- Twice as many hospitalizations.
• Homeless children go hungry twice as often as other children and 25% of homeless children report eating less
after becoming homeless.
(National Center on Family Homelessness, 1999; Sandel, Sharfstein, and Shaw, 1999; Institute for Children and Poverty,
1999)
Homelessness Wounds Children
• Every day, homeless children are confronted with stressful, traumatic events. Within a single year:
- 97% of homeless children move, many up to three times.
- 22% are separated from their families to be put in foster care or to live with relatives.
- 25% have witnessed acts of violence within their family.
• Homeless children have many more mental health problems than other children.
- More than 20% of homeless preschoolers have emotional problems serious enough to require
professional care.
- 47% of homeless school age children have problems such as anxiety, depression, or
withdrawal, compared to 18% of other children.
(National Center on Family Homelessness, 1999; Institute for Children and Poverty, 1999)
Homeless Children Are Not Receiving The Services They Need
• Despite their multiple and complex needs, homeless children are not receiving the services they need. For
example:
- Nearly 20% of homeless children lack a regular source of medical care and 15% rely solely on
hospital emergency rooms.
- Less than 1/3 of homeless children who need help for their emotional problems are receiving it.
- Only 50-60% of homeless families are enrolled in Medicaid, although most are eligible.
- Only 71% of homeless families receive Food Stamps or WIC, although most are eligible.
- Only 37% of homeless children receive services that help them with enrollment,
attendance, and success in school.
- Only 15% of homeless children are in preschool programs, less than half the rate
of all children nationally.
Tuesday, December 2, 2008
National Coalition for Homeless Veterans
Suicide Hotline for Combat Veterans
Posted: 9/24/2007
Suicide is the 11th most frequent cause of death in the United States, accounting for approximately 30,000 deaths annually. It's estimated that someone dies from suicide every 16 minutes. To ensure that veterans who may be contemplating suicide, and concerned family and friends, have immediate access to a trained person who can help, the Department of Veterans (VA) has established a 24-hour national suicide prevention hotline number: 1-800-273-TALK (8255).
The hotline is based at the Canandaigua VA Medical Center in upstate New York. It's staffed by mental health professionals who know how to assess and respond to crisis situations for veterans at risk of suicide, and incorporates the best practices and research findings in suicide prevention and intervention with the goal of reducing suicides among veterans nationwide.
"This is another significant step to ensure that veterans, particularly the newest generation of combat vets returning from Iraq and Afghanistan, receive accessible and compassionate care for their mental health concerns," Secretary of Veterans Affairs Jim Nicholson said recently.
VA's hotline is part of the National Suicide Prevention Initiative—a collaborative effort led by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA). The phone number is the same as SAMHSA's National Suicide Prevention Lifeline, a network of local crisis centers located in communities across the Nation that are committed to suicide prevention.
Callers to the hotline will be asked to press 1 if they are a veteran or are concerned about the well-being of a veteran, and will be immediately referred to trained staff at Canandaigua. If all counselors at the facility are busy, callers will be transferred elsewhere—so that they never receive a busy signal or are placed on hold.
Here are some warning signs that can indicate a person is contemplating suicide:
• Talking about wanting to hurt or kill himself or herself.
• Trying to get pills, guns or other items that can harm or kill someone.
• Talking or writing about death, dying or suicide.
• A general feeling of hopelessness.
• Exhibiting behaviors that indicate rage, uncontrolled anger, or a need to seek revenge on someone or something.
• Acting in a reckless or risky way.
• Feeling trapped, as if there is no way out.
• Saying or feeling there's no reason for living.
Veterans who have such feelings, or family members who have observed any or all of these behaviors, are welcomed to call 1-800-273-TALK—the only national suicide prevention and intervention telephone resource funded by the federal government. In addition to the national hotline, the Department has established a website, at http://www.mentalhealth.va.gov to provide information on suicide prevention awareness.
"While people who are thinking about suicide may think they have problems that can't be fixed, they are wrong," said Dr. Michael J. Kussman, VA's Under Secretary for Health. "We can help, and we want to help. Please don't wait—call now!"
VA provides mental health services at each of its 153 medical centers, more than 900 outpatient clinics and 207 vet centers. Among the areas the Department specializes in are addiction and substance abuse; depression; homelessness; schizophrenia; post-traumatic stress disorder; readjustment counseling, and vocational rehabilitation.
Posted: 9/24/2007
Suicide is the 11th most frequent cause of death in the United States, accounting for approximately 30,000 deaths annually. It's estimated that someone dies from suicide every 16 minutes. To ensure that veterans who may be contemplating suicide, and concerned family and friends, have immediate access to a trained person who can help, the Department of Veterans (VA) has established a 24-hour national suicide prevention hotline number: 1-800-273-TALK (8255).
The hotline is based at the Canandaigua VA Medical Center in upstate New York. It's staffed by mental health professionals who know how to assess and respond to crisis situations for veterans at risk of suicide, and incorporates the best practices and research findings in suicide prevention and intervention with the goal of reducing suicides among veterans nationwide.
"This is another significant step to ensure that veterans, particularly the newest generation of combat vets returning from Iraq and Afghanistan, receive accessible and compassionate care for their mental health concerns," Secretary of Veterans Affairs Jim Nicholson said recently.
VA's hotline is part of the National Suicide Prevention Initiative—a collaborative effort led by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA). The phone number is the same as SAMHSA's National Suicide Prevention Lifeline, a network of local crisis centers located in communities across the Nation that are committed to suicide prevention.
Callers to the hotline will be asked to press 1 if they are a veteran or are concerned about the well-being of a veteran, and will be immediately referred to trained staff at Canandaigua. If all counselors at the facility are busy, callers will be transferred elsewhere—so that they never receive a busy signal or are placed on hold.
Here are some warning signs that can indicate a person is contemplating suicide:
• Talking about wanting to hurt or kill himself or herself.
• Trying to get pills, guns or other items that can harm or kill someone.
• Talking or writing about death, dying or suicide.
• A general feeling of hopelessness.
• Exhibiting behaviors that indicate rage, uncontrolled anger, or a need to seek revenge on someone or something.
• Acting in a reckless or risky way.
• Feeling trapped, as if there is no way out.
• Saying or feeling there's no reason for living.
Veterans who have such feelings, or family members who have observed any or all of these behaviors, are welcomed to call 1-800-273-TALK—the only national suicide prevention and intervention telephone resource funded by the federal government. In addition to the national hotline, the Department has established a website, at http://www.mentalhealth.va.gov to provide information on suicide prevention awareness.
"While people who are thinking about suicide may think they have problems that can't be fixed, they are wrong," said Dr. Michael J. Kussman, VA's Under Secretary for Health. "We can help, and we want to help. Please don't wait—call now!"
VA provides mental health services at each of its 153 medical centers, more than 900 outpatient clinics and 207 vet centers. Among the areas the Department specializes in are addiction and substance abuse; depression; homelessness; schizophrenia; post-traumatic stress disorder; readjustment counseling, and vocational rehabilitation.
Fatal attack near camp for homeless.
Orlando teen admits beating homeless man
Willoughby Mariano | Sentinel Staff Writer
November 13, 2008
One of six Orlando teens charged with beating a homeless man so badly he died of his injuries pleaded no contest to a manslaughter charge Wednesday.
With his stepfather, mother, sister and a teacher looking on, Brenton Mack, 16, acknowledged in Circuit Court that he took part in the attack two years ago on August Felix, 54, near a downtown homeless encampment.
Police said the teens beat Felix for fun. The transient had no money and did not threaten the youths before the attack March 26, 2006, authorities said. The attack left the man paralyzed from the waist down. He spent about a month in the hospital before dying May 1, 2006.
When no friends or relatives stepped forward to claim the body, he was given a pauper's burial.
Mack, who was 13 when the beating took place, said nothing about it during Wednesday's hearing.
The teen was originally charged with second-degree murder and could have faced life in prison if convicted. Circuit Judge Stan Strickland set Mack's sentencing for Dec. 18.
Central Florida has a reputation for being a dangerous place for the homeless. A study released in April by the National Coalition for the Homeless and the National Law Center on Homelessness & Poverty listed Florida as the leading state for attacks on the homeless.
"Bum bashing," the beating of homeless men for sport, typically by teenage boys, pushed the number of fatal attacks up 40 percent last year.
There were 29 attacks on homeless people in Florida during 2007. Six were fatal, according to the report. The study tracked reports of attacks on transients by people who are not homeless.
Felix was attacked on West America Street near Sylvia Lane, close to an encampment razed by the city in 2007.
The six teens were students at Jones High School, Boone High School and Howard Middle School at the time. None was thought to have been in a gang.
Co-defendant Deangelo D. Stephenson, 18, pleaded guilty to manslaughter in the case and was sentenced to three years in prison plus probation. Roshad Levon Smith, 17, pleaded no contest to the same charge and received the same sentence. Devon Stephens, 17, is expected to plead Friday.
Trial is set for Johnnie Hastings, 17, and Arsenio T. Dennison, 18, on Dec. 1.
During Wednesday's hearing, Strickland allowed Mack's stepfather to stand with him in front of the judge because the teen was frightened. The pair wore matching red golf shirts.
Mack's attorney, Marc Consalo, asked that the teen be allowed to finish the semester at Jones High before beginning his sentence. Over objections from Assistant State Attorney Frank George, Strickland granted the request.
"All things considered, we've been waiting this long," Strickland said.
Mack and his family would not comment after the hearing.
Willoughby Mariano can be reached at wmariano@orlandosentinel.com or 407-420-5171.
Willoughby Mariano | Sentinel Staff Writer
November 13, 2008
One of six Orlando teens charged with beating a homeless man so badly he died of his injuries pleaded no contest to a manslaughter charge Wednesday.
With his stepfather, mother, sister and a teacher looking on, Brenton Mack, 16, acknowledged in Circuit Court that he took part in the attack two years ago on August Felix, 54, near a downtown homeless encampment.
Police said the teens beat Felix for fun. The transient had no money and did not threaten the youths before the attack March 26, 2006, authorities said. The attack left the man paralyzed from the waist down. He spent about a month in the hospital before dying May 1, 2006.
When no friends or relatives stepped forward to claim the body, he was given a pauper's burial.
Mack, who was 13 when the beating took place, said nothing about it during Wednesday's hearing.
The teen was originally charged with second-degree murder and could have faced life in prison if convicted. Circuit Judge Stan Strickland set Mack's sentencing for Dec. 18.
Central Florida has a reputation for being a dangerous place for the homeless. A study released in April by the National Coalition for the Homeless and the National Law Center on Homelessness & Poverty listed Florida as the leading state for attacks on the homeless.
"Bum bashing," the beating of homeless men for sport, typically by teenage boys, pushed the number of fatal attacks up 40 percent last year.
There were 29 attacks on homeless people in Florida during 2007. Six were fatal, according to the report. The study tracked reports of attacks on transients by people who are not homeless.
Felix was attacked on West America Street near Sylvia Lane, close to an encampment razed by the city in 2007.
The six teens were students at Jones High School, Boone High School and Howard Middle School at the time. None was thought to have been in a gang.
Co-defendant Deangelo D. Stephenson, 18, pleaded guilty to manslaughter in the case and was sentenced to three years in prison plus probation. Roshad Levon Smith, 17, pleaded no contest to the same charge and received the same sentence. Devon Stephens, 17, is expected to plead Friday.
Trial is set for Johnnie Hastings, 17, and Arsenio T. Dennison, 18, on Dec. 1.
During Wednesday's hearing, Strickland allowed Mack's stepfather to stand with him in front of the judge because the teen was frightened. The pair wore matching red golf shirts.
Mack's attorney, Marc Consalo, asked that the teen be allowed to finish the semester at Jones High before beginning his sentence. Over objections from Assistant State Attorney Frank George, Strickland granted the request.
"All things considered, we've been waiting this long," Strickland said.
Mack and his family would not comment after the hearing.
Willoughby Mariano can be reached at wmariano@orlandosentinel.com or 407-420-5171.
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