To the editor:
I have given this letter considerable thought. This is in regards to the article in the paper about the invisible "street people" that are trying to survive the elements.
The man with the frostbitten hands? He is our son. A graduate of The Dalles High School, a lifetime resident of The Dalles with a long history of mental illness.
He is not a non-person, a street creep, a misfit, a murderer. He is a lost soul off his medications, wandering the streets with the voices in his head for company. He has “disowned” his family because we “tried to help” and we “need to mind our own business.”
He is not alone in his misery. These are the folks that are not welcome in the warming centers. They are too “scary.”
Warming shelters are not staffed by professionals who have expertise in dealing with the mentally ill, the addicts, the alcoholic “lost.” They are well-meaning volunteers.
Do you find yourself averting your eyes to the homeless when you pass them by on the street? If you answer “no” then you are most probably lying. Our son is going to lose ALL his fingers due to frostbite. Maybe he is fortunate that he didn’t end up frozen to death in a ditch somewhere; that was next.
He is/was not capable of making decisions for himself. Obviously. This very well could have been one of your loved ones or friends or family. Mental illness is not picky and it affects most families, no one talks about it due to the “stigma” involved and is devastating to all involved.
No one asks for mental illness. BUT, it is acceptable to suffer from cancers, etc. while mental illness is an embarrassment. Why? Ignorance. BUT thanks to the laws and the closing of the mental hospitals due to “budget cuts”…these unfortunate people have the “right” to be mentally ill with nowhere to go….even though they aren’t able to make rational decisions or have enough sense to come out of the freezing weather.
We had to watch this tragedy play out until someone FINALLY made the decision that he was “a danger to himself,” which was fairly obvious, and then something was done. Too late.
It is against the law to leave your dog outside without shelter in inclement weather.
Are we angry? Are we upset? Are we devastated? What do you think? We cannot even get answers to his medical condition. HIPAA. No “release of information.” At this point in time he is in a holding pattern until he is finally transferred to the burn unit where they will do the surgery. But we will not be notified when they transport him.
So, there it is. And here we are. And there he is. You or a loved one could be next.
Family of Pete Wasson
The Dalles
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