I got a call from a friend who needed a ride to Sparrow Hospital in Lansing to have some tests done. The only sticky point is that his tests were scheduled for 1:00 in the morning.
Friends do what friends do. I gave him a ride and waited for him in the waiting area just outside of the Emergency Room and on the "hot" side of the metal detectors.
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| The sandwiches had been pitched into the trash at the stroke of midnight, 12/08/25. He gave them to me at 1:15 a.m. on 12/08/25 |
As I was sitting there a man approached me and gave me a bag of food. Then he noticed the hole in the toe of my shoe and started asking staff as they passed "Do you need them shoes" as he pointed at their Hokas.
Frankly, I was filled with gratitude.
He was either a homeless dude or somebody who was doing outreach for The City Mission...being as it was 10F actual in Downtown Lansing and -3 in outlying areas.
It could go either way. He was dressed in a newish, puffy coat that went below mid-thigh which is a good setup for a cold night. He was about 45 and skinny. On the flip-side, he talked to himself pretty much the whole time he was near me and he asked if I had a pack of smokes twice.
Maybe he was both. I think you need to be a little touched in the head to do mission work in an inner city.
Medical tests at 0100 hours? Your outside waiting at 10 degrees F?
ReplyDeleteWow, just wow. I need some backstory as my hospital doesn't do non-emergency work at that hour.
I was in the HEATED lobby. Sparrow has two "air locks" where you pass through metal detectors after entering from the parking structure. The E-room is to your immediate left after entering (north). The main hospital metal detectors are about 40 yards to the east. There is a waiting room (chairs) in that portion of the lobby.
DeleteYes, imaging work at 1:00 a.m.
I am just happy that I didn't have to transport my friend to Ann Arbor. Sparrow was recently absorbed by U-of-Mich health systems.
MRI scheduling. Quite common in my area.
ReplyDeleteWhen I volunteered at the Salvation Army we had two groups of people. Residence who could live in the shelter or street people who just couldn't or wouldn't abide by the rules of the shelter.
ReplyDeleteBoth groups could be very supportive of their own clan. Don't get me wrong , there were plenty of predators in each group but once recognized they were ostracized. And that support was limited to their peer group.
The homeless would give away clothes, food and even cigarettes , we call that homeless gold, to peers they thought needed them. Crazy as a loon, drug addled but still open to charity for others.
Thanks for the background information.
DeleteI think most of us who worked actually knew many homeless men, we just didn't call them that. We called them "That poor sucker who just got thrown out by his Old Lady". Usually, he had enough support system that he could couch-surf while he got his life, sort of, back together. There were some that didn't have that kind of support system...not even a fellow bus-boy who had a chunk of floor he could sleep on in the single-wide.
Pro tip: if you're in line for free food, never let go of your shopping cart. If the volunteers are about to pack up at a remote site (i.e. not the pantry storefront), you can snag cases of veggies; I watched obese client after obese client refuse any canned veggies and the volunteers don't wanna haul back those heavy cases. Big score!
ReplyDeleteERJ: To be fair, those shoes don't look like Yooper-Winter-Wear.
ReplyDeleteMy boots are in a similar state and I'm kinda surprised no one at the VA clinic has approached me. I'm not poor, just frugal.
BTW, how were the sandwiches?
Tangent: my late mother was part of a cohort that wrapped sandwiches for vending machines until the FBI busted the company as a Mafia money laundering operation. Good times!
Nothing a little duct tape wouldn't fix and make useful for another year or two.
DeleteThe holes let the snow and water out.
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