Letter from Marcia K. Hoag

Hoag: The System Failed Amber Joy

I work in the human services field in Oneonta. I interacted with Amber Joy (the homeless lady who was hit and killed by a car a few weeks ago) almost daily. It is my opinion the system failed her. No one helped her get on Medicaid so she could get the meds she needed for the mental issues she suffered from. No one helped her get housing. No one helped her get into mental health counseling. Why did a “feeding program” have to be the ones to offer her assistance in filling out paperwork to get her Medicaid back? Why couldn’t she have a Bassett Navigator? Why does the mental health clinic have a wait list of six-plus months out? Why aren’t we hiring more providers? Why isn’t the county providing more mental health services in the Oneonta area a number one priority?

Why do the Oneonta City Police feel helpless to handle those with mental health issues? What does the community expect them to do? There isn’t a psych unit to take them to. They can’t drop them off at the mental health office on Main Street. They can’t take them to Bassett. Arresting them serves no purpose when the bail reform law releases them, and they won’t show up for court or even have money for the fines. Why does DSS put people who just got out of rehab right back into a motel room where the chances of them relapsing from neighboring drug dealers or old bad-influence friends? Why doesn’t Oneonta have controlled rooms/housing or a halfway house? Because it’s easier to sweep them under the rug and consider passing laws like the campsite and tent law in the Town of Oneonta so they can’t set up a tent in the city? “No person who is the owner or user of any mobile home, house trailer, recreational vehicle, or tent shall park or otherwise locate said vehicle equipment or tent upon any premises within the Town of Oneonta for the purpose of using the same for living, sleeping or eating quarters, nor shall any such person use or occupy any such trailer equipment for living, sleeping or eating therein except in a duly authorized mobile home park or campground.”

Now there is a proposal for putting dividers on the benches so no one can sleep on them? Way to help your fellow man. Where are the fruits of the mayor’s homeless plan that he rolled out a year and a half ago? Many committees were formed but nothing concrete has been done. Talk is cheap: Let’s see some action. This lady did not have to die. She did not have to live the life she did. The system failed her. The Oneonta community failed her and her family. Think about it.

Marcia K. Hoag
Pittsfield