Rico
In the year 2000, Rico was homeless, addicted to drugs and frequenting a Bronx drop-in center for meals. He was sick for two months before he went to the on-site medical clinic coordinated by Care for the Homeless. The diagnosis was a shock: he was HIV positive. “I thought, ‘Wow! It came out positive.’ The doctor told me, and I didn’t know what to do,” he says.

For over two decades before his diagnosis, he had been fighting a debilitating drug addiction. “Drugs caused me to be homeless. I had two choices: drugs, or my family. I chose drugs; I wound up getting thrown out,” Rico says. He was homeless for four years, staying at friends’ houses and living in abandoned buildings. When he heard his diagnosis, he had to make that choice again, and this time he made the right decision: “When I got the message that I had AIDS, that’s when I really decided to stop. It was either stop, or keep using drugs and kill myself.”

The medical providers referred Rico to a Care for the Homeless HIV Intensive Case Manager, Raul Gonzalez, who was instrumental in helping Rico turn his life around. Raul helped his client access government benefits like Medicaid, which enabled Rico to access necessary medical attention. “My T-cells are constantly being monitored, and my viral count is undetectable,” Rico says. “I feel normal and I feel healthy. … At least now I have the medical attention that I need and I am taking the medications I need to stay healthy. I feel good right now.” The rehabilitation program in which Rico enrolled would have been impossible without Medicaid benefits. Now he has been drug-free for over three years.

Raul also helped his client find an apartment in a “supportive housing unit” with a social worker on staff in the building. Once housed, Rico was able to focus on other aspects of his life. “I’ve been seeing my kids and every now and then I talk to my ex-wife. We’ve been getting along pretty well now, my kids and I, now that they are older and they know that I’m not drugged or anything anymore. I’m in a maintenance program for my drug problem and my kids know that I’m doing well.”

Almost four years after his diagnosis, Rico still sees a case manager at Care for the Homeless twice a month. “They help me with everything from paperwork that I need to do, to finding me warm clothing for the winter, to helping me with my many appointments. They are being really good to me, I like them a lot. They have really nice people working at Care for the Homeless.”

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