An emergency on the streets.

So I learned a very valuable lesson on the street tonight that I’ll probably never forget…

After the day of volunteering was finished for my group from Michigan, we decided to walk down King Street to Tim Horton’s (a very popular Canadian coffee shop) to get a snack around 11pm. The entire group of 19 people went along with myself, Jessica, and Jemica. On the way we passed a visibly homeless person lying on the street. We assumed they were just sleeping and walked on past. When we left Tim Horton’s about 45 minutes later, the person was in the same position as before. Jessica and Jemica went ahead to check on them, and once I saw that they were getting no response from the person, I stopped the group a few yards from the scene and went to help.

We yelled at the person loudly to try to wake them up, but got no response over a period of about three to five minutes. A guy walked past us and told us that the person had been lying there for over 6 hours. We could tell by the person’s feet (no shoes) and hands that it was a woman, but her face was hidden by the hood of her sweatshirt. We’ve been trained to not shake or touch a person lying on the street, because they may wake up and instinctively punch, so we were hesitant to shake her. Fortunately, another person came along side of us and shook her fairly forcefully for about 30 seconds, but she never woke up or even twitched. We could tell that she was breathing, and the person who shook her said she had a pulse. As my group looked on, Jessica, Jemica, and I started to worry that this woman had overdosed on alcohol or drugs. In the back of my mind I was thinking something worse – perhaps she had been raped and dumped at this corner. We knew that we couldn’t walk away from this scene, so after calling our city director, I called 911.

I half expected 911 to write me off for calling in a homeless woman. But the guy on the other end of the line was very respectful and said that I did the right thing by reporting an emergency. As I was on the phone, a homeless man came up to us and asked what we were doing to his wife. We told him that she was unconscious, but he didn’t believe us. The 911 responder told me to try to move the woman, but her “husband” wouldn’t really cooperate with any of us. The responder told me that we should move away from her in order to protect ourselves from the other man. He reached down to touch her, and she woke up, sat up, and started talking. After about 5 minutes, the fire department, ambulance, and police arrived at the corner of King Street and Church Street where we were located. The firemen came up to us first saying, “Oh, it’s Nancy again. We’ve already been here an hour ago.” Apparently, the emergency personnel had already been called to this scene by other concerned individuals.

Nancy told us that she had been beaten with a brick, and the side of her face was severely swollen. She may have had a broken jaw. Her “husband” (who was harmless to us) had also been beaten up. They told us that natives had done that to them, and that they were in a lot of pain. The firemen left the scene, and the paramedics offered to take Nancy to the hospital, but she declined. The police never got out of their car. After making sure that Nancy and her “husband” were going to be alright, we left the scene as well.

What frustrates me the most is the emergency personnels’ response to Nancy and her “husband”. The paramedics knew that her jaw was broken and that she had an infection. One eye was swollen shut, and she told us the other eye constantly leaked. She said she had a bad bruise on the back of her head, and she had a headache. Her “husband” also had visible bruises on his face and eyes. Yet, the paramedics didn’t leave anything with them. No water, no aspirin, no bandages, nothing. They joked with Nancy about her keeping them from their midnight snacks. They told her and her “husband” to find a “safe spot and sleep there”.

I asked Nancy’s “husband” if he wanted to report the beating to the police. He responded, “Why? What would they do? Do you really think that they would investigate two homeless people being beaten up by other homeless people?” I had hoped that the Toronto Police Department’s slogan “To Serve and Protect” was true. Now, I’m not so sure. Because as I was having this conversation, the paramedics were chit-chatting with the police officers who remained in their cruiser at the corner of the street. The police never got out of their car, never questioned Nancy or her “husband”, never questioned us, and left without doing a thing to help. So, in effect, Nancy’s “husband” was correct. The police weren’t going to do anything. Why should they waste their time on homeless people when people who matter – people with money, houses, families – may or may not be in trouble.

Jessica, Jemica, and I didn’t get back to the church until about 12:45am. I had to write about this experience immediately because the lesson I learned is so valuable. I want everyone to be treated equally, fairly, with dignity and respect. I want the police, firefighters, and paramedics to serve a homeless person the same way they would serve me. I want society to be open to everyone, loving of everyone, and caring for everyone. Tonight I learned that my hope is just that – a hope. It’s not reality. Our society is warped, corrupted, money-centered, and not equal in the least bit. Economic situation and standing can greatly affect your rank in the societal totem pole. Being poor does mean that you are treated differently, even by those whose job it is to protect you.

I’m so disgusted.