More long-term shelter spots needed
This is one man’s story of his experience in a shelter. Today Brent is volunteering at the food bank and has a part-time job at a good local company. Brent is looking forward to a future of good health.
It started in 2014 . . . my health began deteriorating. I used to do a lot of hiking with my daughter, actually it was she that made me go to the doctor to begin with because I was having trouble breathing.
My blood work showed that my liver was failing. It was enlarged.
Next problem my heart was enlarged and it was determined it was a virus that caused it. I was in the hospital for three months. I had three strokes in three days. So I had to stay for another 2 1/2 months. I couldn’t get on medical EI for a long time. I lost the place I was renting, but my job in Penticton was being held for me. Luckily I had a friend who was a care aide and she let me stay with her when I finally got out of hospital. Then medical EI started and all was looking good and I was looking for a place to live, but couldn’t find one for what I was getting on medical EI and I couldn’t work yet, so I camped (it was summertime) in the bush and that was OK, too.
It started to get cold of course, and a friend told me to call the shelter.
I called the Salvation Army shelter Compass House. I got to feeling better. I got back to work briefly, I had the doc’s note, but I wasn’t performing the way I needed to so I was laid off.
Back to the shelter. And luckily they had a bed for me. They allowed me to stay for three months, because I was going through Work BC and everything, but you can’t stay indefinitely at a shelter and the stays are getting shorter. I went back into the bush and slept in my truck.
Shelters nowadays are supposed to be short term, but I needed longer term.
I was trying to better myself and get well and get fit so I could do my labourer’s job. More of that type of shelter is needed for people who want to improve their lives, who want to take the Work BC course, the fitness and rehabilitation.
Now there are so many people with addictions at the shelters, people like me who don’t do drugs have a hard time getting in.
I have four children, one in Calgary and three in Saskatchewan.
Shelters are a good place for people who are trying to improve their lives. Most people associate it with people with addictions — that is not necessarily the case. My time at the shelter was because of my health and not enough income to afford a place to live.