Frank* is a Vietnam Veteran who has been with PLAN of PA as a Representative Payee client for 15 years, receiving assistance with managing his finances. Frank has struggled throughout the years due to a Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI), which left him with difficulties in his thinking, decision making, problem solving, and emotional stability. He has had great difficulty maintaining a stable residence and consequently has transitioned through several homeless shelters, primarily staying at a shelter on the grounds of the NorristownStateHospital. Frank has a long and accomplished work history, was head of the union of the Groundskeepers at Norristown State Hospital, where he feels at home, Frank recalls telling his employees that they should never look down on the residents of the state hospital because, as he said to them, “Any of us could be just like them, in the blink of am eye”.
This past winter, Frank agreed to Care Management services and in collaboration with social workers at the shelter program at Norristown, his case management team worked to find him permanent housing and VA benefits. Frank will now be receiving comprehensive medical and dental care. He dreams of fixing his teeth, so that he can greet the world with a proper smile and play his harmonica and his guitar at the local tavern for his friends. Frank also dreams of reuniting with his long-lost daughter and regaining the family he lost. He has many close friends in his community, and is working closely with his case manager on rebuilding a fuller, more productive life.
When the burden of homelessness was removed by his case management team, Frank was finally free to dream of a future – one that was unencumbered by the day to day struggles he faced in the shelters, and open to a life of family, community, and wellness.
*Frank’s name was changed to protect his privacy.