MENTAL HEALTH SERVICES:

Joe's ShelterCare Story

“All those years, all I knew how to do was survive.”

Homeless most of his adult life, and all of the 19 years he has lived in Lane County, Joe Oatmen now lives in his own apartment in Springfield thanks to ShelterCare’s The Inside Program (TIP).  A hard worker who struggled with alcohol, drugs and mental illness, Joe had never stayed in one place long enough, or made enough money, to have a place of his own.  Without a rental history, even when he had a job he was an unwelcome risk to most landlords. Now he devotes his days to cooking for others who are still living on the streets and hopes to establish his own free chuck wagon out of the back of his van. 

“I love to see the faces on people who are so grateful to have a place to come to eat.  I want to give back to the community that has given so much to me.”

Pamela's ShelterCare Story

Within a couple of weeks of moving into ShelterCare’s Shankle Safe Haven Program, Pamela surprised herself by making two bold steps: she joined the Consumer Council, a representative body through which consumers from ShelterCare’s programs can come together to discuss and propose solutions to issues of common concern; and she agreed to be included in a photography session to produce portraits of ShelterCare clients.

These are not small steps for a quiet woman with a shy smile.  A native of Bakersfield, California, Pamela’s life story encompasses two marriages, each of which produced a son, and jobs that expressed her compassion for animals, nature and people.  After eight years working in Yosemite National Park, she followed her second husband to Klamath Falls.  But inflammation of a chronic lung infection in 2006 forced her to consent to surgery to remove most of her left lung.  She moved in with family while recovering, but the break-up of her marriage, the deaths of her parents and siblings, and the intense pain from her surgery exacerbated her anxieties, making it difficult for her to work or live with her grown son. Her arrival in Eugene by bus “was a total nightmare” until she found her way to Shankle Safe Haven.  Now she’s safe, calm, and positive.  She has found both a pulmonologist and a pain specialist who are tracking her recovery.  “I couldn’t ask for anything better,” she says.