From: "Rich Gauszka" 

We don't have to do an all or nothing  solution.  A society needs to deal
with it's problems  ( those with dementia etc ) and not go into a look the
other way/dumping remedy.



"Ellen K."  wrote in message
news:lfpc221cm1s13g78bhdgljntpthdr4k0i1{at}4ax.com...
> The result is that we are going to have a $100 million program to combat
> homelessness, including regional centers where persons being discharged
> from hospitals or jails who have no home to return to will be taken.
> (Please excuse the scrambled syntax.)
>
> On Fri, 24 Mar 2006 22:34:09 -0500, "Rich Gauszka"

> wrote in message :
>
>>No national health care needed here as dumping is cheaper
>>
>>http://www.breitbart.com/news/2006/03/24/D8GHV8KO5.html
>>
>>Authorities are examining a surveillance tape that shows an elderly woman
>>wandering Skid Row in a hospital gown and slippers as they investigate the
>>practice of hospitals and police agencies dumping homeless people
>>downtown.
>>
>>Carol Ann Reyes, 63, of Gardena, was taken from a Kaiser Permanente
>>hospital
>>in Bellflower on Monday to the downtown area known as Skid Row,
>>authorities
>>said.
>>
>>A surveillance camera outside the Union Rescue Mission showed Reyes
>>walking
>>from the direction of a taxi that had just driven away. She wandered the
>>street for about three minutes before a mission staff member brought her
>>inside.
>>
>>City officials have been looking into the alleged dumping of homeless
>>people
>>in Skid Row, a ramshackle area downtown.
>>
>>Several hospitals have acknowledged that they put some discharged indigent
>>patients with nowhere else to go into taxicabs headed to the area because
>>it
>>offers a chance for getting services and shelter. Los Angeles police also
>>are investigating whether other law enforcement agencies dump people
>>without
>>anywhere else to go downtown.
>>
>>"We have been looking into homeless dumping for some time, and
this (tape)
>>gives us another example of what has been going on," said
Frank Mateljan,
>>a
>>spokesman for the city attorney's office.
>>
>>Diana Bonta, vice president of public affairs for Kaiser Southern
>>California, said the hospital attempted to find a shelter for Reyes, but
>>when that failed, it was determined that she would be taken to the Union
>>Rescue Mission. Hospital officials are trying to find out why Reyes, who
>>was
>>in the hospital after suffering a bad fall, was left on the street still
>>wearing her hospital gown and slippers.
>>
>>The incident violated hospital policy and will not occur again, she said.
>>
>>"We have a policy of treating our patients with compassion and
care,"
>>Bonta
>>said. "This should not have happened."
>>
>>Andy Bales, president the Union Rescue Mission, where Reyes remained, said
>>the incident was the third in the past week in which security cameras
>>caught
>>taxis dropping people in the area. The problem will continue until a
>>coordinated discharge plan between hospitals and shelters is created, he
>>said.
>>
>>"We just can't drop people off like baggage," he said.
"We can't have a
>>society where these people have nowhere to turn when they need care."
>>
>>State Sen. Gil Cedillo of Los Angeles, a Democrat, has introduced a bill
>>that would prohibit any arresting agency from taking people who need drug
>>treatment, mental health services or shelter outside their jurisdiction.
>>
>>Los Angeles County officials are also considering establishing five
>>regional
>>homeless centers in an attempt to reduce dumping, the Los Angeles Times
>>reported Friday.
>>
>>The regional homeless centers plan would spread the responsibility of
>>caring
>>for the homeless to suburbs instead of concentrating it downtown, the
>>newspaper said. Each 30-bed center would operate 24- hours a day and would
>>accept people from hospitals, police and care providers. The goal would be
>>to find the resident permanent housing and services such as mental health
>>and substance abuse treatment, officials said.
>>
>

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