Health Without a Home

07Jul10

“Life is a foreign language; all men mispronounce it.”

Christopher Morley (1890 – 1957)

Towards the end of June, our team had the privilege of spending five days shooting on the streets, in the shelters, and amongst the homeless population of King County. Commissioned by Public Health of Seattle / King County, this video program will promote best practices in working to prevent the transmission of communicable diseases within the programs and shelters that serve the area’s homeless.

Given the focus of this piece, you can imagine what we learned. Topics such as food handling, bed bugs, hygiene, and general health were explored at length. Use of sanitizers and HAND WASHING have never seemed more critical to healthy living than since this project. But more than anything, it was the people we met in the process who left the biggest impression.

A line gathers for the food offered by Operation Sack Lunch

Thoughts from our executive producer, Val Thomas-Matson:

“The concept of ‘homeless’ is forever changed for me, and I am appreciative that I’ve had the opportunity to help tell the story about what is working well to keep those living in vulnerable situations safe. Over the week, our crew interacted with many variety of people and circumstances: In downtown Seattle, under Interstate 5, there was the vibrant 20-something couple, homeless, pregnant and eager to find work and a home; There was the woman living under the viaduct in a tent; the gracious grandmother and her grandkids living in transitional housing where the children enjoyed healthy afterschool snacks; the articulate woman who lost her house after the preverbal “paycheck away from homelessness” found her…without a paycheck.  We met a charming woman who’d lived on the streets for 16 years, who is now working with social services to obtain permanent housing. So many stories…

Sleeping area at a men’s shelter

Throughout the project, my emotions ran the gamut of feeling humble, sad, and disgusted – to feeling gratitude and hope… I’m proud to be a part of the NXNW team that strives to strengthen the dignity and sense of humanity of everyone we work with. It’s grand to be part of a team that recognizes the privilege we have in sharing these crucial stories with a wider audience.”

Thoughts from our photographer, Tomás Guzmán:

“We were standing in a transitional housing unit for men, waiting for some logistics to be hammered out, and it just so happened in the lounge the World Cup was on… USA vs. Slovania.  A goal was made by the US, and there I was cheering and fist-pumping, and so were several other men standing around me.  We all smiled at each other and exchanged praise for our team.

The men around me were homeless… I’m not, but that didn’t matter at all.  We were united citizens rooting for our country… how cool was that?

You cannot walk away from a shooting experience like that and not feel humbled. To call myself human, I cannot afford to forget just how fortunate I truly am.  Seeing through the eyes of those on the streets around me, seeing them fight so hard to survive, searching tirelessly day in and day out for what usually comes so easy for me… I have no room to complain… ever!”

Thoughts from our producer, Kim Cosgrove:

“In general as a society we don’t think about the homeless population that often, and when we do come face to face with someone who is homeless we tend to just look away. I would say that the people who made the biggest impact on me during those five days was not the homeless people themselves (although we met some amazing people) but the staff, volunteers and nurses who work with this population everyday.

Jeff approaching one of his homeless clients

Probably the most inspiring person we met was Jeff Clemmons, a traveling nurse who spends a majority of his day working with people living on the streets. Jeff was great, he knew everyone’s name, would greet them, ask how they were doing, how they were feeling, give them clean socks, vitamins, shots and he even clipped a woman’s toe nail. At the end of the shoot we asked Jeff what was the most important help he could provide for these people, and he said that just acknowledging their existence and treating them like human beings is what makes the biggest difference.

A homeless man receiving his Hepatitis B vaccination

At the end of the week I realized that the homeless population are people just like us: some were just a paycheck short of rent, others had been living on the streets for more than 40 years, but in the end they are just like you and me trying to find their path in life.”

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This shoot was an eye-opening experience: Intense, because of the break-neck schedule, running between more than a dozen places and programs that serve the homeless population over the five-day shoot; and heart-rendering, because of the sights and stories our team was absorbing while meeting these individuals.

We welcome your thoughts, and encourage you to find out more facts about homelessness here.

Filed under: In the field   |  4 Comments
Tags: communicable diseases, crew, documentary, health, homeless, homelessness, humanity, hygiene, king county, reflections, seattle, shelters, shoot, video