UPDATED April 26, 2020
Our outreach teams are called CARE Teams. CARE stands for Community Alternative Response & Engagement. The three teams share a mission to work with and support those that are unhoused, or those at risk of becoming unhoused, in Marin County.
CARE Team One, funded through the county’s Behavioral Health & Recovery Services, is working exclusively in West Marin. There are limited services available to the unhoused population in Pt. Reyes, Tomales, Inverness, Stinson Beach, and Bolinas, which is the route this team covers. Michael Payne and Peter Planteen, both veterans of this work, are our staff for this team. They check in regularly on people who are living in cars, campers, or who are otherwise on the street. They work closely with Health & Human Services, West Marin Community Services, and the Coastal Health Alliance at Pt. Reyes Station. Michael and Peter have been told by multiple members of the community that this CARE Team is, in Michael’s words, “the only game in town.”
In normal circumstances, the team will traverse West Marin on Mondays and Tuesdays. However, due to requests from partners and members of the West Marin community, for the last month and a half due to the pandemic, Michael and Peter have been in West Marin much more. On an average day, if there is such a thing in this work, the two men will seek out and engage eight or nine clients. Michael shares:
What do we do? Everything from A to Z and more. It is important to understand that unlike the unhoused, as well as the unhoused mentally ill and the unhoused dually diagnosed (with mental illness and substance abuse) in other parts of the county, the homeless in West Marin have very little support services.
Food? Sometimes the only food for some of those that are unhoused comes from the food pantries in Pt. Reyes Station and Bolinas. When these food pantries are closed situations can become dire; some folks will either beg or go without food at all. We know one woman who, having no income or support, uses any means available to her to acquire money for food.
Michael continues,
Where do unhoused people live? Some live in the woods, some live in their cars, and some spend the night on porches. There are three people Peter and I know who have endured nights huddled together for warmth on the floor of the Post Office in Pt Reyes Station, when it has been cold or raining.
It’s tough. Peter relates that he recently found a young man sleeping in mud, under a wet blanket, who hadn’t eaten for a day and a half. And Michael says it can all hit one pretty hard. “Yesterday, Peter and I drove out to North Beach to eat our sandwiches we had bought for lunch. For a while we just sat in the van in silence, staring out at the ocean.” The team keeps its eyes on people, looking for anything that indicates something is different today for this person. Michael relates,
Every time Peter and I engage with a person we look for signs that something is different from that last time we saw the person. We have ‘eyes on.’ We monitor the entire engagement looking for anything that has changed either for the better or worse. We then review our findings and based on our assessment we determine a course of action. Interventions range from counseling to soliciting help from service providers such as West Marin Community Health and Human Services, the Coast Health Alliance Medical Clinic, the West Marin Community Services Agency, and/or the West Marin County Sheriff’s Department.
Who are some of the people and what are some of the services that CARE Team One provides?
- M (male) – found riding a bicycle in circles; services provided; eyes on.
- S (female) – missing three days; found living in her car near the ocean with little food and no water; services provided; purchased water and sundry items.
- V (male) – found sleeping on the ground under a tree in the woods; services provided; transported to Novato for medical support and later to a motel room in San Rafael.
- K (female) – missing two days; found huddled in a corner of the public rest rooms at Point Reyes Station; services provided; medical support from Coastal Health Alliance for scabies and lice.
- N (adolescent male) – missing four days; found sitting on a bench outside the Pt Reyes Food Pantry. N now has boots on his feet but no laces to hold them on (used to walk around barefoot); services provided; eyes on and counseling.
- H (male) – found in his car outside food bank in Point Reyes Station (has blood clots in legs, uses crutches to walk around); services provided; eyes on and counseling; monitoring medical condition.
- J (female) – missing two days; found sitting in her car outside of town (has trouble walking due to edema); services provided; eyes on and counseling; monitoring medical condition.
- K (male) – found sitting on a porch on top of blanket (left foot broken approximately six months ago; no medical treatment); services provided; eyes on and counseling; monitoring medical condition.
- C (male) – sleeps in his van, missing two days (moderate to sever memory problems due to medical condition; C smiles every time he sees us, but often can not remember our names); services provided; eyes on and counseling; working with Coastal Health Alliance to monitor symptoms.
- P (male) – missing.
- R (male)– often missing but sometimes contacts us via phone, meeting us outside the Point Reyes Food Pantry; services provided; eyes on and counseling.
The team was recently able to get an 81-year-old unhoused, wheelchair-bound man in Mill Valley into a motel in San Rafael. Working with partner agencies, Homeward Bound and St. Vincent’s, the team was able to secure him a room. Michael notes, “I took a look at this man’s legs and feet; the feet were swollen and bluish in color. He said he had diabetes but had not seen a doctor nor had any medication, so I informed county staff at the motel about his situation and they were going to call to get a medical evaluation. Peter and I intend to follow-up.”
It takes a county-wide collaboration to ensure that the people our CARE Team encounters are given the treatment and support they need. One of our agency’s Peer Support Specialists, Hasani Moore, usually working alongside county case managers, has shifted to the county’s response team helping to get these individuals into motels that have been converted to shelters. The temporary residents were offered rooms so they could shelter in place to help prevent the spread of COVID-19. Hasani is providing overnight staffing support. “The coolest part,” he says, “is seeing people who have been out on the street now getting housed, at least temporarily, and hearing them be appreciative of that. They’ve been outside so long and they’re not used to being cooped up. Some of them have issues that are triggered by being quarantined, but I’m telling them this is a good thing and they can relax.”
Collaboration can mean the difference between life and death for someone. Michael sums up his report:
Suffice to say that the current pandemic, COVID-19, has made our job much more difficult. However, difficult does not mean impossible. Peter and I will continue to do our best to provides services to those who without our help would have no services at all. This afternoon had a referral from Homeward Bound about an unhoused woman in San Anselmo who is living in her car and apparently quite symptomatic. Peter and I intend to follow up on her Monday morning after we have a meeting about the unhoused census count here in Marin. We’re staying busy!
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