april 26 - May 2, 2021 Vol. 29 No. 17
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Arts & (Home) Entertainment
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SportsWise
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Cover Story: street Medicine
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We are replacing our usual calendar with virtual events and recommendations from StreetWise vendors, readers and staff to keep you entertained at home! The SportsWise team celebrates Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's birthday by looking back at his life. While you may be familiar with the bus The Night Ministry takes to various neighborhoods on set nights, since 2015 its street medicine program has used a smaller van to meet people where they are. An even newer offshoot is the CTA program on Monday and Wednesday nights at the Red and Blue line terminals.
The Playground ON THE COVER: The street medicine bus outside the Ewing Annex Hotel, 426 S. Clark St. THIS PAGE: Aaron Brinkman, M.D., a volunteer physician with The Night Ministry's street medicine team, checks the blood pressure of Leo Milner, a resident of the Ewing Annex Hotel. (photos by Kathleen Hinkel, www.kathleenhinkel.com)
Dave Hamilton, Creative Director/Publisher
dhamilton@streetwise.org
StreetWiseChicago @StreetWise_CHI
Suzanne Hanney, Editor-In-Chief
suzannestreetwise@yahoo.com
Amanda Jones, Director of programs
ajones@streetwise.org
Julie Youngquist, Executive director
jyoungquist@streetwise.org
Ph: 773-334-6600 Office: 2009 S. State St., Chicago, IL, 60616
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To make a donation to StreetWise, visit our website at www.streetwise.org/donate/ or cut out this form and mail it with your donation to StreetWise, Inc., 2009 S. State St., Chicago, IL 60616. We appreciate your support!
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ARTS & (HOME) ENTERTAINMENT RECOMMENDATIONS Since being stuck inside, which shows have you been watching? Which movies? Have you read any good books lately? Any new music releases have you dancing in your living room? StreetWise vendors, readers and staff are sharing what is occupying their attention during this unprecedented time. To be featured in a future edition, send your recommendations of what to do at home and why you love them to Creative Director / Publisher Dave Hamilton at dhamilton@streetwise.org
Interactive Art!
Artopia: The Immersive Experience This unique experience, hosted in the gorgeous 32,000-square-foot venue in Chicago's West Loop, invites you to step into the universe of large scale light art installations and sculpture from some of the most talented street artists around the country. The tour ends at The Artopia Lounge, where VIP & Icon ticket holders can stay to enjoy drinks in the exhibit. The exhibit runs now through May 16, Thursday through Sunday. Tickets start at $40, with VIP packages available, and can be purchased at artopiaexperience.com
(HOME) ENTERTAINMENT
Race and Racism
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Talking Frankly About Race and Racism This program by Spertus Institute for Jewish Learning and Leadership brings presenters together to discuss race and racism, exploring the nuances and complexities of these issues, in Jewish life and beyond. The event will be moderated by Spertus President and CEO Dr. Dean P. Bell. Spertus Institute for Jewish Learning and Leadership proudly convenes a trio of thought leaders from both coasts for the 2021 installment of its Critical Conversations series, entitled "Jews and Race." This year’s presenters are Boston-based Black, Jewish anti-racism activist Yavilah McCoy (pictured); San Francisco author and professor of Jewish Studies and Social Responsibility Dr. Marc Dollinger; and New York rabbi and social action organizer Rabbi Mira Rivera. The event will be at 7 p.m. on April 27. Closed captioning is provided. Tickets for the general public are $18. Visit www.spertus.edu/critical-conversations-jews-and-race to register and to see other prices.
Real Life Storytelling
Out of the Archives In tandem with the ongoing Silent Voices exhibition, the National Public Housing Museum presents an audio listening series, "Out of the Archives.” You can listen to the most recent episode, “Stories from Chicago’s Henry Horner Homes.” The episode shares stories from residents of the Henry Horner Homes, known to many of its residents as the Hornets, and includes narrators Crystal Palmer, Marina Pullom, Patricia Smith, John Pettiford, Sharon Leggitt, and Maria Moon. Find this and past episodes at www.nphm.org/oral-history-corps-and-archive.
The Best in Sports Reporting!
Ring Lardner Awards Program Union League Boys & Girls Clubs presents the Ring Lardner Awards Program, honoring three Chicago sports journalists, on April 29 at 7 p.m. With spring in the air and teams playing ball, Chicago sports fans of all stripes and loyalties are invited to attend the 2021 Ring Lardner Awards ceremony honoring excellence in sports journalism. Hosted by NBC5 anchor Alex Maragos, this year’s award honors Toni Ginnetti (former Chicago Sun Times reporter, to be presented by current Sun Times senior columnist Rick Telander); Dan Roan (pictured, current WGN TV sports anchor, presented by former WGN TV sportscaster Rich King); and, posthumously, Cooper Rollow (former Chicago Tribune sports editor, to be presented by former Chicago Tribune sports reporter Mike Conklin). The event is free to the public on Zoom, but donations benefit the Union League's Boys and Girls Clubs. Registration is required at ulbgc.org/events/ringlardner2021.
Ballet Studio Series!
'Under the Trees’ Voices' The Joffrey Ballet continues its Joffrey Studio Series—a roster of virtual programming during the COVID-19 era—headlined by the World Premiere of “Under the Trees’ Voices,” a new 28-minute work by Joffrey Rehearsal Director Nicolas Blanc, performed and streamed live from the Joffrey’s Gerald Arpino Black Box Theatre on April 30 at 7 p.m. Blanc’s "Under the Trees' Voices" features 15 Joffrey artists dancing to Symphony No. 2 by Italian composer Ezio Bosso. The performance channels the power of community in the age of social distancing. In four distinct sections, Blanc imagines a future of hope and unity. More information about how to watch the event can be found at joffrey.org
the History of Musicals!
'The Mega Musical' The Music Institute of Chicago’s new livestreamed free lecture series, “Beyond the Stage: Musicians on Music,” offers insights and perspectives on a range of musical topics spanning classical, jazz, and popular music. Music Institute Musical Theater Artistic Director and librettist Matt Boresi reflects on the invasion of European musicals, including "The Phantom of the Opera," "Les Miserables," "Evita," and "Miss Saigon," which brought Broadway out of a funk and into financial success. This free virtual event takes place April 29 at 7 p.m. Find more information at www.musicinst.org.
Author Roundtable!
Chicagoski: Polish-American Writers on Polish Chicago In honor of Polish Constitution Day Monday, May 3, the Chicago Public Library will host a 6-7 p.m. virtual program. ForgottenChicago.com Editor Daniel Pogorzelski will interview authors Stuart Dybek, Thomas Dyja, John Guzlowski and Dominic Pacyga. Dybek’s book, “The Coast of Chicago,” was the Spring 2004 One Book, One Chicago selection. Belmont-Cragin native Dyja is the author of “The Third Coast,” winner of 2013 Heartland Prize and the Chicago Public Library's 2015 One Book, One Chicago. His new book is “New York, New York, New York.” Guzlowski’s most recent work is “Echoes of Tattered Tongues,” a memoir of his parents' lives as slave laborers in Nazi Germany and refugees in Chicago. He is also a columnist for the Dziennik Zwiazkowy, the oldest Polish newspaper in America. Pacyga has a Ph.D. in history from the University of Illinois at Chicago and taught at Columbia College/Chicago. His newest book, “American Warsaw,” was published by the University of Chicago Press in 2019. This event will take place live on CPL's YouTube channel and Facebook page (facebook.com/chipublib). Questions will be taken. The event will be archived for future viewing.
-Compiled by Hannah Ross
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Vendor Russell Adams chats about the world of sports with executive assistant Patrick Edwards.
inspiring career of
Patrick: Hello, all. I’m here with Russ Adams, our longest-involved member of SportsWise. Who best to discuss Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s 74th birthday this past April 16? Sir? Russ: Thanks, Patrick. Well, Kareem is the NBA’s all-time leading point scorer (38,387), a 7’2” center who played 21 seasons. Paired with Earvin “Magic” Johnson on the Los Angeles Lakers “Showtime” squad throughout the ‘80s, they won five championships. His patented move was the Skyhook—the ball arced eloquently high above his fully raised arm, off his fingertips and into the basket. Man, I can see that shot go up as if I were sitting in front of that old black and white bubbleback television. Patrick: Shoot, you’re not alone. Because you have me by a few years, I imagine you were able to truly realize Kareem’s technical mastery of that shot. Russ: You may be right, but don’t dismiss your view on it: If nothing else, it was, simply, beautiful. Patrick: Cool. All right, so, what do you think about his role in “Game of Death” (1972)? Russ: Besides being one of Lee’s students, Kareem accepted the role because he’d always taken issue with the way Asians — especially Asian-Americans — were and still are treated in the media, movies and television. Lee was motivated to destroy the onscreen portrayals
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (Frazer Harrison photo).
SPORTSWISE
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of Asian men as sexless and shuffling, and the females as demure and sexy and who needed saving by white men. Although Bruce Lee movies were highly popular, the idea of an Asian man “replacing” the white man as savior in mainstream movies never took. Kareem and Lee opened up the discussion for a non-white man to be front and center. Patrick: And I like that, as a columnist for the Hollywood Reporter, Kareem spoke out against recent hate crimes. Very good publicity. Russ: Right. And speaking of Mr. Abdul-Jabbar’s writing, let’s not forget he’s the author of several New York Times’ bestsellers. Patrick: I remember reading a tweet of his. It went: “Throughout my lifetime, I’ve been able to do more than stuff a ball through a hoop…my greatest asset has been my mind.” A UCLA
graduate, he has written 15 books, including “Brothers in Arms: The Epic Story of the 761st Tank Battalion, World War II’s Forgotten Heroes” (2004 with Anthony Walton), as a children’s book, “What Color is My World?: The Lost History of AfricanAmerican Inventors” (2012 with Raymond Obstfeld). Russ: I’m glad you mentioned that children’s book, because it’s awesome that he’s so passionate about engaging young people with history. “What Color is My World…” tells an amazing story about contributions of Black inventors to contemporary American life. Lewis Latimer, e.g., invented the carbon filament for the electric light bulb. Not only does the book open Black kids’ minds to realize the limitless possibilities (a career in science is as cool as being an athlete), they gain an understanding of obstacles we’ve had to face.
I also want to mention Mr. Abdul-Jabbar’s accomplishments. I wasn’t aware of: his Skyhook Foundation, which creates STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) opportunities for kids. He’s created documentaries, is raising cancer awareness and he has received a Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian honor. Patrick: Good deal. Anything else, sir? Russ: From President Obama: “The reason we honor Kareem is more than just a pair of goggles and the Skyhook… He’s as comfortable sparring with Bruce Lee as he is advocating on Capitol Hill or writing with extraordinary eloquence on patriotism.” Lastly, from Mr. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar: “Go out and make friends with someone who doesn’t look like you.” Any comments or suggestions? Email pedwards@streetwise.org
Street by Suzanne Hanney / photos by Kathleen Hinkel
It’s 9:48 p.m. on a Monday night in February and the downstairs lobby of the CTA Blue Line terminal at Forest Park is set up for The Night Ministry’s street medicine program. On one side is a table manned by peer support advocate Keith Belton (a former StreetWise vendor), who is distributing “survival supplies”: socks, underwear, water, sandwiches, hygiene kits, harm reduction equipment and, when available, donated shoes, tents, backpacks or sleeping bags. On the other side behind the privacy screen is senior nurse practitioner Stephan Koruba. In the middle of it all is volunteer Kenneth Burnell, serving soup. by Hannah Ross Many people may be familiar with the large bus that The Night Ministry takes to various neighborhoods on set nights. Since 2015, the street medicine program has used a smaller van to literally meet people where they are at encampments and stops around the city. The CTA program is an offshoot that began in winter 2020 and grew in response to reduced shelter capacity during the pandemic, which led to more people sleeping on the L. From April 1, 2020 to March 31, the combined street medicine/CTA outreach program provided 1,109 free health assessments, treated 308 conditions that would have otherwise gone without care and prevented 75 emergency room visits. The programs also handed out 11,053 meals and 6,529 hygiene kits. Mondays and Wednesdays from 9 p.m. to 1 a.m., the street medicine program will see an average of 120 people at the Forest Park terminal and 80 to 100 people at the 95th Street end of the Red Line. Forest Park draws more people because the Blue Line route from O’Hare to downtown and out to the near western suburb allows more time for uninterrupted sleeping. As soon as a train pulls into Forest Park, two security guards walk its length and invite sleepers to come downstairs for food and services. They don’t even have to come through the turnstile, which would mean another fare. A social worker who is also a notary can help people get identification cards and birth certificates and sign them up for stimulus checks. Case manager Sylvia Hibbard describes the street medicine staff as a team, “a little family that forms a circle around each client.” The nurse can help with wound care, blood pressure checks, as well as HIV, Hepatitis C, syphilis and COVID-19
testing – and now the vaccine. Long term, the hope is to connect the patient with a medical home: a primary care physician or health clinic that is accessible to them and can provide ongoing care. Mile Square, a federally qualified health center at 1220 S. Wood St. on the University of Illinois medical center campus, is one option. Harm reduction materials start with Narcan nasal spray, an emergency medicine to reverse heroin overdoses, which Noam Greene, lead street medicine outreach worker, likens to an “EpiPen.” Short plastic straws are used for snorting; alcohol prep pads prevent skin infections; cotton takes the dust out of the drug; sterile water can be mixed with the drug in a metal cooker similar to a tealight, which is also included. HIV and Hepatitis C are two of the main diseases that can be transmitted through blood via shared needles. Dirty needles can also lead to skin infections at the injection site or in blood sepsis that can lead to heart problems. That’s why clients at both at the CTA and the regular street medicine program receive clean needles – “rigs” – and sharps containers for used needles. Later on, the team will accept the filled containers, which are bagged up and taken back to the office as medical waste. “Mental health issues and addiction go hand-in-hand,” Koruba said. “Many, many homeless people have it. It’s hard to say which comes first. A lot of folks get out here and start using to dampen the cold, the miserableness, the loneliness.” Treatment to break opioid dependency with the drug Suboxone is a new facet of the street medicine program. Access to Suboxone improved with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s approval of a generic in 2018. “As addiction is increasingly viewed as a medical condition, Suboxone is viewed as a medication for a chronic condition, such as a person with diabetes needing to take insulin,” Peter Grinspoon, M.D., wrote in a Harvard Health blog in 2018. Since the COVID pandemic, insurance programs no longer require in-person visits and will pay for telehealth, which means that the street medicine clients can do their required psychiatric visits by cell phone and pick up the supplies from the street medicine crew.
Above: Aaron Brinkman, M.D., volunteer physician with The Night Ministry, provides medical care in the van parked outside the Ewing Annex Hotel at 426 S. Clark St. in downtown Chicago. Below: Brinkman, right, checks in with a client outside The Night Ministry’s street medicine van at State and Madison. Case manager Sylvia Hibbard is at left.
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Among The Night Ministry's survival supplies are harm reduction materials such as syringes.
The street medicine team generally visits a scheduled list of encampments, Greene said, but it can also respond to an emergency call. “The most important thing is we respect the client’s autonomy and don’t force them to make decisions we think are right. That helps build trust long-term.” “Most of all, we build relationships with them so they know they can come to us, so we can do the next step, whether it’s housing or medical, or anything,” Koruba said. The wonderful thing about the CTA program, Koruba said, is that it was suggested by Belton, who has experienced homelessness. Belton was taking the L at 5:30 or 6 in the morning to his 7 a.m. spirituality class, switching from the Red Line to the Evanston-bound Purple Line. “I kept seeing these people on the L so I went to my boss. I knew they needed resources.” The CTA coordinates the logistics and the Chicago Department of Public Health supports the Monday and Wednesday Red/Blue line program as part of a two-year, information-gathering pilot on people who are not connected to formal or informal supports in Chicago. The combined average of 200 people nightly makes the twice-weekly visits at the two stations the city’s second largest shelter, Koruba said.
of directors. He had also spoken to the National Health Care for the Homeless Council. He was teaching a class that included personnel from The Night Ministry and in the process was offered a job. He started as a volunteer to make sure he felt comfortable with its corporate culture, “because I’ve been in the streets all my life. My mom was an addict and alcoholic. We went from apartments to abandoned buildings because of the drug use my mom was doing.” Belton’s walls started coming down with Heartland Alliance.
“If we could just save one person out of 1,000 it would be great. We have to remember not everyone is ready for this. They don’t trust people. They got walls up; they’ve been hurt so bad, they won’t let the walls down.”
“I was able to talk to them, let them know my feelings. They just welcomed me into their waiting room after I spent all my money. Their hearts were still open to letting me in. I could see that kindness and people who care. I got me a case manager and started dealing with the situation. Even though I went to prison, this time I didn’t even ask for treatment. The door just opened, and I said instead of being a destroyer of my community, I could be a builder. As soon as I came out, I started volunteering, staying away from friends, not visiting my family. My whole lifestyle had to change.”
Belton was a StreetWise vendor in 2012 at the Walgreens on Clark street and Wilson avenue. Simultaneously, he was volunteering with Heartland Alliance, passing out flyers. He had gotten sober in prison, before coming to StreetWise. Eventually, Heartland was flying him to different states because he was on its community advisory board and board
Phil Baron, 54, has been coming to Forest Park since its inception. “I sleep on the train and just happened to show up at the right time the first night. They had soup. I was speaking with Stephan and he directed me to getting a LINK [food stamp] card.” Phil also relies on the program for hats, gloves, clothes and food.
Mental illness is still a cause of street homelessness, along with poverty, not enough housing, not enough work, Belton said. “Sitting on top of it is the pandemic, making it even worse.
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Lead street medicine outreach worker Noam Greene distributes a meal from the back of the team's van.
Lead street medicine outreach worker Noam Greene works to distribute supplies out of The Night Ministry’s street medicine van.
“It’s always good; it’s wholesome,” said one street medicine client. “It’s not that salty, you won’t catch blood pressure and diabetes and it will fill you up,” said another. reduction materials include syringes and naloxone, commonly referred to as Phil ordinarily sleeps in a tent in the woods, Harm A full-time student at Narcan, which Greene compares to an EpiPen that reverses heroin overdoses. but in the worst weather he buries his suitDePaul University and a case and takes a blanket onto the Blue Line. full-time chef, Burnell plans to graduate in 2022 and go to He’s a carpenter but when winter comes around, the work the University of Chicago Law School. He said he wants to drops off and the rent stops getting paid. “With the pan- give attorneys a better reputation in light of everything that demic, no one wants you in their house.” He panhandled has been happening to minorities in the past year. He’s also to support his heroin habit, which takes a minimum of $20 starting his own nonprofit, Souper Heroes, to feed people a day. at the Clark/Lake station on the CTA Blue Line.
Having been homeless in 10 different states, Phil likes Chicago. “Even in the bad neighborhoods, there’s good people. If you’re not a racist and open-minded, they can see that. If you’re scared and got a problem with race, they’re going to see that too.” Burnell is a professional chef at Columbus Manor, a residential mental health facility. He was feeding the encampment at the Chicago and Albany avenues Metra underpass when he met Koruba and the street medicine crew as they were distributing Narcan. Burnell promised soup for Mondays and Wednesdays in Forest Park when it got cold. He makes a thick, old-fashioned, homemade mixture of chicken thigh meat, noodles, organic celery and carrots. Burnell says he’s tried other soups, but people complained they can’t eat tomatoes, can’t eat beef, can’t eat pork and never heard of minestrone. Chicken soup is simple. “They can be particular, which I get. They’ve had a rough life. People think they can treat them any way. You’ve gotta love them until they love themselves.”
Meanwhile, Hibbard, the case manager, was listening to people’s stories to see what they need. Someone who wanted to get into a shelter had called three times. It was a long shot, Hibbard said, because with COVID the shelters had to take in fewer people in order to social distance. “It’s always been hard, but COVID made it 10 times harder.” Outside on a Wednesday afternoon in March with the regular street medicine crew at the Chicago/Albany underpass, for example, there are 18 tents on the south side of the street, 10 on the north. In 2018, Jill, 49, and her husband Rick were the first people at this encampment, after staying at Lower Wacker Drive, which Jill termed scary. Before that, they had rented for six months and then stayed at a friend’s house for a month. Rick picked the Chicago/Albany underpass because it was an empty, newer bridge with lots of foot traffic. “The more people come through, the safer you are,” he said.
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Hibbard speaks to a resident of the Chicago/Albany homeless encampment.
Street Medicine case manager Sylvia Hibbard delivers a tent to a resident of a homeless encampment under the Metra viaduct at Chicago and Albany avenues.
Jill said they lost their house in 2017 due to foreclosure. She had been on long-term disability from 2010 to 2016 for a herniated disc in her back and neck; Rick was in real estate. Before that, Jill had been a claims adjuster for litigation, fraud and injury. Right before coming to the underpass, Jill got MRSA pneumonia, ultimately cured by antibiotics. But she was hospitalized for two months and had three lung surgeries. The Night Ministry street medicine program helps them with clean rigs and food; they also use the program as a mailing address. The program helped put them on the list for housing a year ago. Because of her lung surgery and the pandemic, she said she is on an emergency list. A street medicine caseworker also helped Jill get her Social Security card and birth certificate, both lost between the foreclosure and City crews coming for monthly street cleaning. Their tent and meds were lost four times. “We received our stimulus check,” Jill said. “They signed us up for it, did everything. I love them, they don’t judge.” The program also saved her husband’s arm, she said, after he had surgery and the stitches popped. He had developed an infection, where you could see down to his bones. Another stop that Wednesday night was at the Ewing Annex Hotel, 426 S. Clark St. Although not an encampment, the men are considered unstably housed, Hibbard said, because their names are not on a lease. And while encampment residents get drop-off donations of food and blankets, the hotel residents don’t. Manager Mike Bush said that roughly 60 percent of the hotel’s population is men over age 50. Many are day laborers and others are on Social Security. After paying rent ($19/night, $120/week, $360/month ) there isn’t always much left over.
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Bush called The Night Ministry street medicine program “a huge asset not only to the city but to people who don’t have access to medical assistance. Some of them are forced to go without medical help to pay rent, so that small issues could turn into big ones that didn’t need to. And when people come by, offer up a sandwich or fruit, it’s a huge blessing."
Lead street medicine outreach worker leader Noam Greene works out of the street m shortly after 6 p.m. on a Wednesday night in March.
Leo Milner, 68, asks to have his blood pressure taken. It’s normal. One man also learns from Hibbard how to access his veterans’ benefits. The van makes a stop at State and Madison streets because of a request on its dedicated phone line. Aaron Brinkman, MD, a volunteer for the last several years, said he had treated a facial absess – a frequent malady – that night. He called in a prescription for topical antibiotics and gave the patient an initial supply in case he couldn’t get it. He also treated a nail fungal infection, and gave someone else an inhaler. Respiratory infections account for a lot of Brinkman’s cases, thanks to the environment: bird droppings and exhaust on Lower Wacker Drive, for example. Congestive heart failure is a result of excessive alcohol use. Endocarditis, in
Night Ministry volunteer physician Dr. Aaron Brinkman provides medical care outside the street medicine van parked at the men-only Ewing Annex Hotel at 426 S. Clark St.
medicine van at the southwest corner of State and Madison streets
which bacteria enters the blood stream and seeds the heart valves, can occur with long-time intravenous drug use. The Night Ministry street medicine team case manager Sylvia Hibbard speaks with Leo Milner outside of the Ewing Annex Hotel.
“We’re accustomed to their style,” Brinkman said. “It’s not easy for them to get into a clinic and they’re not always treated well at a hospital. We’re not judgmental.”
Vincent Bobo, a client at State and Madison, said the street medicine program helps him with medication, foot care, toiletries, socks, underwear, clothes, shoes, fresh rigs, IDs, tents, sleeping bags, coats – “actually with everything. A lot of times when I didn’t have insurance, they helped me out with an inhaler. I tell people to donate to them because they really put their heart in it.”
Bobo, 50, has been homeless for nine years while in and out of prison. He said he sneaks into public restrooms to wash up, change clothes and shave, so that people do not even know he is homeless. He is on a housing list and hoping to hear soon. Bobo sleeps under a downtown bridge, but in extra cold weather, he rides the L. Sometimes he catches the street medicine crew at Forest Park. Back at Forest Park in March, Nick, 37, said the street medicine program does a good job. “It helps to get food, stay safe with what we do.” www.streetwise.org
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With harm reduction supplies for drugs? Yes, Nick said. He has ridden the trains in the two months he’s been homeless, “since everything fell apart on me. I lost my home, job, family.” Nick said he’s not yet ready to get off drugs and supports himself as a panhandler. He receives a sandwich and bottle of water, socks and underwear from Belton. Socks and underwear help, said another man, because when you wear the same clothes for weeks staying on the train without a shower, at least you can change the innermost layer. “Right now I ain’t got no job,” said a 54-year-old man. “I will get some food here ’til the work picks up. I do painting and dry walling. I am going to go to Home Depot and try to get work now.”
The CTA Blue Line terminal in Forest Park draws an average of 120 people both Mondays and Wednesdays from 9 p.m. to 1 a.m. Clients can go downstairs for services and then board another train without having to pay another fare. The Blue Line site draws more than the Red Line site because its long loop downtown and out to O’Hare allows more uninterrupted sleeping time during extremely cold weather.
Dan said he comes to the street medicine program for something to eat. He subsists by panhandling and paying to stay with a friend. Otherwise, he rides the trains or goes to a shelter. At almost 60, he’s been homeless for five years since his mother died and the family sold her home. He has been on the list for housing for six months. Nurse practitioner Carole, meanwhile, has just finished treating someone’s feet. It had been raining, and homeless people always have their shoes on, so their socks get wet. It’s something that housed people take for granted. The street medicine program provides whatever they need when they can’t access medicine, Carole said, from seizure disorders to refills on diabetes or blood pressure medicine that they can call in to a pharmacy. It might even be as simple as ibuprofen for an aching back or knees that they couldn’t otherwise afford. “It’s a bridge to services,” she said. “We point people in the right direction.” Phil from February is sitting on a bench. His whole demeanor is lighter.
Case manager Sylvia Hibbard provides social work services from a table downstairs in the CTA Blue Line Forest Park terminal.
Left: A woman receives food and clothing supplies at the CTA Blue Line Forest Park terminal on a Monday evening. Right: Phil Baron speaks with a nurse at the CTA Blue Line Forest Park terminal on a Monday night. Phil has been visiting the Blue Line program since its inception and credits it with helping him get clean from heroin recently.
The street medicine program got him off heroin. Suboxone was supplied through his Blue Cross and picked up on a Wednesday night. Twelve days was all it took. He’s been sharing this information with Blue Line sleepers he meets. “It’s tricking your body. You don’t even know you’re being good to yourself. I haven’t bought dope for two days.” People do heroin the first time to get high, Phil said, but after three days in a row, they’re hooked. They continue using it only so they don’t get sick. “The high is gone. Mostly you fall asleep. Then everyone steals your stuff. I lost three brand-new cell phones in two weeks.” As a carpenter, Phil has a lot of clients. Now, he said, he can go back to work without having to worry about being dope-sick. Yes, he would have to keep on taking suboxone. Possibly, he would need some other itch to replace heroin. Maybe weed. “Maybe get married and have kids,” he said.
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Above: Night Ministry Peer Outreach Professional Shalance Horne works to distribute food, harm reduction materials and clothing to individuals at the CTA Blue Line Forest Park terminal. Below: Horne, left, and Peer Support Advocate Keith Belton (a former StreetWise vendor) provide food and supplies at the CTA Blue Line Forest Park terminal on a Monday night in March.
Streetwise 4/12/21 Crossword To solve the Sudoku puzzle, each row, column and box must contain the Sudoku numbers 1 to 9.
PuzzleJu
Crossword Across
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60 Completely botch 61 Wish granter 62 Dashboard abbr. 63 “Let it stand” 64 Business V.I.P.
12 15 17 22 23 25 26 27
Devoured 39 Sewing High rocky hill materials Frowns dealers Hankering 40 Mountain tops Water collector 42 Words to a Mustang jittery person Crackers 43 It’s found in Old Testament Down banks 1 Deli side book 44 Green light 2 Toothpaste 28 Alpha’s 47 Trophy holder opposite 48 Walkie-talkie 3 Building annex 29 “Bolero” word composer 4 Old masters 49 Half-moon tide 30 Greek letter 5 Muscular 50 Stretched tight 6 Dashed 31 Pea jacket? 52 Kind of wolf 7 Cuts off 33 Driving need 53 “Paradise 35 Groceries 8 Learned, in a Lost,” e.g. way holder 54 Bring into play 9 Graduates 36 Oatmeal 57 Compete 10 Faux pas 37 “Idylls of the 58 Rover’s 11 Dancer’s dress King” lady playmate? Copyright ©2016 PuzzleJunction.com
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Sudoku Solution
Find your nearest StreetWise Vendor at
1 Elec. unit 4 Veneration 7 Hairpiece, to some 10 ET transport 13 Eggs 14 India’s smallest state 15 Biblical judge 16 Tuck’s partner 17 Craft fairs 19 Northern seabirds 21 Norse deity 22 Fast 24 Personal quirk 25 Adolescent 26 Abominable snowmen 28 Wails 31 Plummet 33 Film part 64 Creme cookie 34 Small combo 65 Caribbean 35 Conifer island 37 Cool! 68 Tickler of the 39 Senate vote ivories 40 Tightwads 70 Lyric poem 43 Pressure 71 Droop 45 PC linkup 72 Via 46 Noggin 73 Consumed 48 Tree juice 74 Spoiled 49 Kennel noises 75 Pres. Lincoln 51 Composes 76 Delicious 53 Linear units 77 Tartan cap 56 Hawaiian fire goddess Down 57 Medicinal plant 1 Man of steel? 59 Trot or canter 2 Dodged 61 Apiece, in 3 More slothful scores 4 ___ Khan 63 Study 5 Verbose
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Cushier Turtles, e.g. Eskimo knife Present Symbols of purity Flipper Saturn’s wife Chafes Pugilist’s weapon Collar type Reservations Slant Kind of sauce Chick’s sound Enfolds Streetcar Foal’s mother Like a sore throat
42 Cheapest accommodations on a passenger ship 44 Copycat 45 Once around the track 47 Fem. suffix 50 Ward of “Sisters” 52 Dapper 54 Rodeo rope 55 Sonora snooze 58 Gallic goodbye 60 Clan emblem 62 Actress Eichhorn 65 Employment 66 Nabokov novel 67 Taxi 69 Branch
www.streetwise.org
How StreetWise Works
Our Mission
Orientation Participants complete a monthlong orientation, focusing on customer service skills, financial literacy and time management to become a badged vendor.
Financial Literacy Vendors buy StreetWise for $0.90, and sell it for $2. The profit of $1.10 goes directly to the licensed vendor for them to earn a living.
Supportive Services StreetWise provides referrals, advocacy and other support to assist participants in meeting their basic needs and getting out of crisis.
S.T.E.P. Program StreetWise’s S.T.E.P. Program provides job readiness training and ongoing direct service support to ensure participants’ success in entering the traditional workforce.
Soluti
THE PLAYGROUND
To empower the entrepreneurial spirit through the dignity of self-employment by providing Chicagoans facing homelessness with a combination of supportive social services, workforce development resources and immediate access to gainful employment.
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