Sometimes they are so needed, especially when lives are at stake, and the situation of the chronic homeless is one where coming to terms with the reality rather than continuing with wishful thinking (as most of Sacramento’s homelessness and public leaders are) will help, not hurt them.
Nevius: S.F. paramedic says homeless people burden hospitals
C.W. Nevius
Tuesday, December 18, 2007
Niels Tangherlini is willing to state the hard truths about San Francisco's street population. And he's doing it, even if it causes howls of protests from advocates for homeless people or from some city political leaders.
For example, Tangherlini strongly believes some severely mentally ill street people need "long-term, regular care. And if they don't want to accept that, we may have to impinge on their civil rights."
He also believes that, in some cases, just giving someone a room isn't the answer either.
"We hear that all the time," Tangherlini says. " 'All they need is housing.' I don't want to get into a war with the advocates, but I strongly disagree. We get some of these guys into supportive housing and they can't handle it."
And most of all, Tangherlini thinks that the current system of support, where a 911 call sends an ambulance rushing out to treat someone who is likely to be a "chronic inebriant," is an ongoing disaster. Some of those who call clearly need medical care, but many are using the ambulance and the Fire Department as a personal taxi to the emergency room. He says it is stressing the system, the care providers and the city's financial well-being.
So who is Tangherlini, and how can he say these things?
On one hand, Tangherlini is a local success story. A paramedic with the Fire Department, Tangherlini went back to school for a degree in social work, then pitched the city on his idea that, instead of an ambulance and fire truck, "what a lot of these people need is a van with a paramedic and a social worker."
Tangherlini got his van in 2004 and now works with thousands of people on the street, often with a social worker in the passenger seat next to him. He is pushing them into treatment programs, following up on people at risk, and - in what he thinks is his most worthwhile achievement - sometimes arriving at 911 calls in time to call off both the ambulance and fire rescue crew because he knows the callers well and can get them help without a trip to the overcrowded emergency room.
