Insufficient Medicare
Ian has lived in Reno for the past 14 years. He’s proud to have grown up and lived in Reno, but there are a few concerns he’d like to see fixed, including having his Medicare cover all, and not just some of his healthcare costs .
“I qualify for Medicare and I'm on disability,” Ian explained. “I'm fortunate to receive enough disability to live on. However, the health insurance doesn't cover psychiatry because it's Part B Medicare. But that's all I need.”
He says he’s also experienced a deterioration of services at Northern Nevada Adult Mental Health Services and in general health care in the area, despite there being excellent doctors in Reno. He says unfortunately they seem to be out of reach financially for him and for others barely getting by.
“[Access to mental health resources] has been in constant decline,” Ian said. “Some of the best surgeons are in Vegas, but some of the best psychiatric, neurological, and pediatric doctors live in Reno and they're amazing people, but it costs so much money.”
Despite politicians talking about challenges of mental health in our community, Ian says he would like to see much for funding to support programs, as well as effectiveness.
“Mental health is not a serious thing in our country,” Ian said. “I actually called the suicide hotline in January to see how it would turn out. They wanted me to hang up the phone. I'm not even kidding, I have witnesses.”
He says he believes an overall lack of empathy is something that is reflected in how those without stable shelter are treated in the city.
“It sucks not having anything or being homeless, wandering just like everybody else,” Ian said. “But at the same time looking at yourself the way other people look at you, it can't be pretty. And unless you actually put yourself in someone else's shoes, you'd never understand what they've actually been through. Empathy is kind of pathetic to some people.”
Who is Helping Who?
Instead of actually supporting the homeless community and providing affordable housing, Ian says it seems people are more interested only in charitable acts they can profit off of.
“The rest of these people with all their money, if they cared they would do something about it,” Ian said. “Instead [they’d rather] buy a new car that's like $30,000. I could've thrown up a building with plywood and four by four on property that I purchased [with that money] and turn that into affordable housing and it wouldn't be hemorrhaging money. But there's no point in them doing that because they don't make money off of it.”
He would also like to see more help to fight drug addictions for those without shelter.
“The biggest resource I would like to see available for the homeless is information and drug help,” Ian said. “The battle of drugs is a hard and tough one that I, myself personally had to go through multiple times. It's tough, I've had family members that have had addiction problems and I think that within itself can be a mental health problem.”
He understands how difficult it is for the portion of the homeless community that’s fighting their addiction battles on their own. Ian recently encountered a man in Reno who was looking for a few bucks to find heroin.
“He just looked so defeated, like he was being controlled by another force,” Ian said. “And I honestly thought to myself, ‘If I had $5, I would've given him $5 because maybe that admission of truth would be something to set them free.”
For Ian, it comes down to trying to understand the reality of the position many of these people are in.
“‘Well, am I gonna die on the streets tonight? I don't know how cold it's going to be.’ Those are things that actually go through people's heads [on the streets],” Ian said. “It's the reality of the situation that they're in and if the only way to feel better about that [is to do drugs], then why not do it?”
But with better mental health resources and more affordable housing, through better-allocated funds by the city council, Ian believes that decision may never have to be made. But unless something is done now, the people that need help the most will be stuck in a never-ending cycle.
“Mental health is one of the most important issues because how are you ever going to get out of your funk if you don't know why you're there in the first place?” Ian asked. “And if you don't have a place to stay, you're not going to be able to get out of your funk because it's a reinforced cycle.”