By Melora Simon, Photo: Salgu Wissmath, California Health Care Foundation, December 9, 2021
Robert Turner had been living in a tent at a campsite in Auburn during the pandemic when a hospital caseworker named Vicki Miller-Routh called out to him from her car one day. The two had connected earlier at Sutter Auburn Faith Hospital after Turner landed in the emergency room, and Miller-Routh helped him get ongoing medical care after discharge.
“She said, ‘You know what, Robert? You do not need to live like this anymore,’” Turner recalled. Miller-Routh drove Turner to the Gathering Inn homeless shelter and introduced him to two other caseworkers who helped him obtain housing, food stamps, and other help.
Turner, 53, said he was diagnosed with HIV/AIDS in 1997 and used to act and work in television production. He earned a good living in San Francisco for years, he said, before severe anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder related to a sexual and physical assault became so debilitating that he could no longer work. Turner lost his apartment and lived on the streets.
Comments (0)