He is trying to kill himself. And we have broken the rules. We have our hands on him, preventing him from going over the bridge railing to the pavement below.
As a journalist I’m not supposed to enter the story. The other person holding the man back is David Remo, an outreach worker. Like me, he too is breaking the rules because he isn’t supposed to restrain his clients.
The jumper is drunk, very drunk and he can barely utter a sentence. Yet for the last 40 minutes Remo and one other outreach worker have been following him, trying to talk him out of his horrifying plan.
This man is not only drunk; he is mentally ill. And though mental illness isn’t always synonymous with homelessness, it is in this case. Despite the best efforts of two outreach workers this man still tries to climb over the bridge railing when we hold him back.
“Why don’t you jump and see if you can fly,” a passerby yells as she walks past. Another approaches us and asks if we need help. Eventually a police officer shows up and puts the suicidal man into the back of the patrol car to take him to a shelter. The other outreach worker thanks us and heads for home. Her shift ended hours ago and she is tired.
Remo is an outreach worker with Operation Come Home. He volunteers several hours every Friday night to walk around Centretown, to hand out supplies, like socks and long underwear, and to tell the homeless about the shelter services that are available. Remo specializes in talking to homeless youth, who often spend their time around Bank Street. The mature homeless prefer Elgin.
On Bank Street Remo comes across a homeless young person. He was kicked out onto the street because of a lot of “disrespect” in his house. He has Bipolar disorder. “I can be sad one moment and happy the next,” he says. He has no plans to get off the street. Though he has only been homeless for two months, he plans to take it day by day.
Homeless young people are mobile, says Remo. Some days you can see no one, some days you see 20. Tonight he encounters only a handful. It is getting colder and many now seek the protection of shelters and friend’s houses.
In his zeal Remo has overfilled his backpack with supplies; the zipper bursts and Remo is forced to carry it by the handle for the remaining hours that we will be walking the streets. Almost everyone takes something from him, but no one takes more than they need. They know that the supplies are for everyone, and that someone else will need it. In fact, they take very little, maybe just a pair of socks or a couple of granola bars.
Scottish Dave knows this. He knows that the help should be going to people who need it, who are fighting mental illness and drug abuse. Scottish Dave, who, like many in his situation, refuses to give his last name, isn’t mentally ill and isn’t addicted to drugs. He just “took a decision to step off the wagon.” When asked about the challenges facing the homeless he says that everything is a challenge, but adds that having a house and hydro bills is a challenge too. Even rooming houses now charge hydro, he says.
Scottish Dave illustrates a critical point about homelessness, that everyone has their own reason for being homeless. There is another David, who again refuses to give his last name, who was kicked out of his house by his religious mother two months ago for having a boyfriend. He is cold and he is shivering outside of the Rideau Centre. His plan is to get an apartment or a job and then go on welfare.
Gus says he left his home 30 years ago because his family was very bad, so bad that he wanted to kill his father. He is 51.
Remo is an outreach worker because he wants to interact with these people, the people who are forgotten. He wants to develop a connection with the people who need help.
And he’s here to interact with what he calls “the national crisis;” mental illness. If it were declared a national crisis then there would be all kinds of support, then everyone would be helping, Remo says. But there are so many complicating factors for homeless people, from not knowing what services are available to them to harassment and ignorance from the general public, to access to healthcare to being given a fair chance for employment and education.
He knows that some people, like the passerby who yelled at a suicidal homeless man to see if he can fly, don’t care. ‘I’m here to care” says Remo. Someone has to.
Credits:
All photos by Nathaniel dove