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Beth
Beth
My husband grew up in Richmond, VA, the city, at the center of Catching Homelessness. I knew many of the street names and towns Dr. Ensign mentions in the book. Richmond is a predominantly black city; if you've ever been there, you can clearly see the effects of our nation's dark past. When I 1st visited Richmond with my husband, I saw a city full of housing projects in crime-riddled areas. He echoed my observations and told me access to healthy food options and proper healthcare was a rarity growing up. But when you drive just 15 minutes north or south of Richmond, you will find beautiful homes filled with gardens and even farmer's markets. These systemic oppressions are not a coincidence. It's by design. It's not a coincidence that the state of Virginia recently elected governor Youngkin, a man who vowed and has banned school districts from teaching critical race theory (CRT). Imagine going to school in Richmond, VA, and not learning about the systemic oppressions and why your school has a metal detector and ripped up books but the school 2 miles down from you doesn't. It cannot be stressed enough that history matters (Winquist, 2022)!
Dr. Ensign includes many issues that relate to gender in Catching Homelessness. It was hard not to have profound sadness reading about stories like Dawn's, a 15-yr old whom her mother's boyfriend sexually assaulted. This young lady ends up a prostitute to survive, contracts AIDS and dies. I think back to when I was fifteen and thought I lacked (materialistic) things; reading Dawn's story breaks my heart. Reading about the black and white female prostitutes all "arranged like items on a convenience store shelf" is a reminder of how hard being a woman is in a patriarchal society. (Ensign, 2016, p. 179).
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Amina
Amina
Catching Homelessness blends a carefully researched documentary about poverty and health care with an intensely personal and suspenseful memoir. In Ensign's stories, people are portrayed, from the homeless to the sick, to those who run healthcare service facilities, as well as herself (Arthur W. Frank, Ph.D., author of At the Will of the Body and The Wounded Storyteller).
Josephine told stories that were not only compelling but also loudly communicated. I've been inspired, made aware, and acknowledged by the healthcare system after reading Ensing's tale! She emphasized how being a female provider was not something that was accepted by society back then. Her experience resonates with me since I believe numerous women in this world do NOT have the privilege of being able to find employment or pursue higher education.
It is more fortunate that I have the education to become a successful female physician. In my journey, my parents and family have been breaking the rules and allowing more women to pursue degrees and careers. I think in many societies, women aren't allowed to be educated and express themself. Thus, I believe Josephine Ensign understood the importance of gender roles and her role as a female care provider did not limit her ability to help unhoused individuals in her community.
As a patient care professional, Joesphine connects deeply with her patients and cares deeply about them. For example, when she visited Lee in his apartment to make sure he was taking his medications and was doing well. When she noticed he wasn't feeling well, after all, she offered to drive him to the hospital. "This went against everything I had been taught in nursing school about Professional boundaries with patients," she said (Ensign, 2016, p. 16).
As a former nursing assistant student, this resonates with me. I made connections with individuals at the nursing home that I wasn't prepared for in nursing assistant school during my clinical hours there. My group and I provided healthy food and conversation to an elder who was unwilling to eat breakfast without my group. It did touch my heart how incredibly sweet and kind they were. While also respecting professional boundaries.
My grandma in her care facility. She could not remember us here, but she was always happy.
Sydney
Sydney
Catching homelessness is a well-written book where Josephine Ensign perfectly portrays her struggles with life while trying to provide adequate care for the homeless population in Richmond. Ensign describes different experiences she had throughout her work as a nurse practitioner at the street center by taking us through stories of her experiences. The one character that related to me the most was Louie, who was diagnosed with schizophrenia. In the book, Louie doesn’t have family members or people around other than the people at the street center to help provide care for him. He also didn’t have the money to get put in a housing facility that provided the proper care for him. Several years ago, my grandma was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease. Early on in her diagnosis, her boyfriend decided to take her on road trips which caused more confusion for her by being in different places all the time. But, when her Alzheimer’s got worse, we were lucky enough to be able to pay to put her in a home for Alzheimer’s patients, and she was lucky enough to have my dad taking care of everything for her. My dad was the only family member she had who was taking care of her finances and paying the care facility that she was in; he was also the only person other than my sister and I who would come and visit her. Seeing someone you love lose their memory and not remember who you are was one of the hardest things I had gone through. If my dad hadn’t been there for my grandma, she could have easily ended up like Louie wandering around the streets and living behind a dumpster.
Zainab
Zainab
Catching Homelessness is truly a powerful piece of literature that describes homelessness through the lens of healthcare. The characters and chapters that stuck out to me the most were the ones that had something to do with mental health. About two years ago my mother was diagnosed with bipolar depression with severe paranoia. The process of recieving this diagnosis was long and exhasuting. It takes a lot of effort and time to get healthcare for a mentally absent individual who is not willing to recieve treatment. I remember countless trips to court, phonecalls with psychiatrists, and run-ins with the police. It's truly a battle and it took months. In a case like my mothers, time is not on your side. The longer an individual goes without treatment the more delusional they become. We were unable to get her the help she clearly needed until she became a direct threat to herself or to us. It felt almost unfair to let her suffer that long but there was no way around it. Eventually she did get the help she needed and is doing much better.
When reading Catching Homelessness, I felt even worse for the characters suffering from severe mental health issues who weren't able to recieve healthcare. One character that stuck out to me was Louie. Louie had severe paranoid schizophrenia. His condition was so bad he couldn't care for himself and was covered head to toe in lice. This made me think of how terrified he must've been. Schizophrenia would just worsen without any treatment, which Louie was not recieving. I also got to thinking about how in situations like this you need to have close friends and family to get you the help you need. Having people around you that can advocate for your health is a huge privilege. It was a privilege my mother was lucky to have but one Louie unfortunately did not. You need to have people by your side who are willing to go through the long and grueling process of involuntarily committing you (which can be rare to have).
This also got me thinking about the statistics of severe mental health disorders. For example, I was now curious to know what percent of schizophrenic individuals recieve proper treatment. According to the WHO, The World Health Organization, only 31.3% of individuals with psychosis recieve specialist mental health care. (WHO, 2022). This percentage is way too low and mental heatlth resources must be made more accessible to those in need. Opening free mental health clinics in areas like Richmond (ones with a high homeless population) could be beneficial. Free counseling, therapy, and advice can prevent mental health disorders from becoming psychotic.
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