Dan Kanofsky believes everyone has a right to top quality health care and as a psychiatrist who has worked with Care for the Homeless for more than 13 years, he is walking the walk.

Spending his time in shelters, Dr. K is able to help people get back on their feet. He’s stayed with the organization for so many years because he’s impressed by the staff’s willingness to work together to solve problems. Sometimes, that means the solution is medication but not always, as was true for one client who needed childcare so she could return to work.

Recently, Dr. K saw a client who was staying in a shelter with her four children because she’d lost her job as a home health care worker a few years before. She’d been to several different clinics and was on antidepressants but nothing was helping. Dr. K noticed a trend – the depression came on every winter and ended every spring. He suspected Seasonal Affective Disorder but Medicaid wouldn’t pay for a light box. That being the recommended treatment, CFH bought one for her. A few days later, she could already feel a different and within a year, she and her kids were living on their own again.

“You have success for whatever reason – from changes in medication to more intensive treatment – and it can make a world of difference,” he said. “I’ve learned that there are instances when a little help can make a big difference. A person can go from being homeless to fully independent. The people at Care for the Homeless are responsive to the whole situation.”