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 certainly walking the walk.

He spends his time in shelters, helping people get back on their feet. He has stayed with the organization for so many years because he is impressed by the staff’s willingness to work together to solve problems, and with their approach to helping clients. “We look at what’s happening in a person’s life.”

Sometimes, that means the solution is medication. But sometimes, as in one success story, it meant helping a mother find childcare so she could return to work and feel purposeful again. “I’ve learned that there are instances when a little help can make a big difference.,” he said. “The people at Care for the Homeless are responsive to the whole situation.”

Recently, Dan saw a client who was staying in a shelter with her four children. Two years before, she had lost her job as a home health care worker. Then her husband left. She had been to several different clinics, and was on antidepressants, but didn’t find them very helpful. He noticed a trend – the depression came on every winter, and ended with the spring. He suspected Seasonal Affective Disorder. Medicaid wouldn’t pay for a light box, which is the recommended treatment, so Care for the Homeless bought one. A few days later, the woman was on the mend. The following year, she and her kids were living on their own again and she had secured a job as a surgical assistant at a very good hospital.

“You have success for whatever reason - from changes in medication to more intensive treatment - and it can make a world of difference,” he said. “A person can go from being homeless to fully independent.”