Member Services
Member Services (formerly Outreach in Burnside) is clear in thinking of its clients as members of a family. We act as family for 100 people, assisting them with personal care, advocacy with legal and social service agencies, helping them find and secure housing, and managing their money.
Our life together is based in the living room—a warm, comfortable lounge for Members that is open on weekdays. We also have a wheelchair-accessible bathroom with a shower, and laundry facilities.
We celebrate birthdays and holidays here at Member Services. We arrange for outings to the coast or parks. We try to maintain contact with each Member’s family of origin, and when they die, we hold memorial services.
Usually Members stay with us for life. We take seriously the commitments and relationships that define family.
We recognize that what we do is important, and enjoy sharing what seem to be best practices with others. Nursing students from Oregon Health Sciences University, student groups from Christ the King Parish School, Sunstone Montessori School, St. Mary’s Academy, and Ione, Oregon have made significant imprints at Member Services because they understand the relational values that define our work. Adult volunteers assist with clerical and repair projects, and free the staff to focus more on Members’ needs.
The Member Services Core Member's Program: a surrogate family for our Members Member Services acts as a family for over 60 people with dual diagnoses: typically, our members live with mental disabilities coupled with physical disabilities or addiction problems. For these members of the Core Program, we manage money, advocate with legal and social service agencies, and provide assistance with many areas of personal care.
We maintain a warm lounge for them and a wheelchair-accessible bathroom with a shower and laundry facilities. We also escort Members to medical appointments and shopping trips. We celebrate holidays and arrange outings together. We try to reestablish contacts with each Member's own family, and hold memorial services for Members who die.
Member Service's Core Member Program includes, but is not limited to:
Budgeting Members' money
Advocating with other agencies
Finding housing
Coordinating medical care
Our Core Program Members
Our 60+ Members have disabilities ranging from Alzheimer's and mental illness to brain damage from accidents and strokes. Some also cope with physical disabilities or other ailments; a few are addicted to substances. By serving as their surrogate family, we afford them the opportunity to live independently. We help them manage money, get them to appointments, explain medications, see to their laundry and lend a hand with personal care. We advocate on their behalf with hotel managers and officials at Social Security, Senior and Disabled Services and many other agencies.
Some Members' Stories
"Andrew"crashed his motorcycle while in high school. He broke a lot of bones, walks with difficulty, cannot use his right arm and has extensive brain damage. He has been a Member since 1990. We have seen him through doctors’ appointments, court dates, a broken leg, spells of homelessness, taken him along to the beach, the mountain, to picnics, and to parties.
"Stephen", schizophrenic & alcoholic, was in restraints in the hospital repeatedly until a nurse sent him to us at Member Services. Since then, he has settled down to life in an SRO apartment (which we clean on a regular basis), has taken several vacations to Indiana to visit family, gets to the beach, picnics and parties. We have seen him through hospitalization for a minor stroke, the resulting medication for blood thinners and the fight in a losing battle against alcohol.
"Linda" had been on the streets for over 20 years, and was well known by several street names. She suffers from post traumatic stress syndrome (her husband beat her) and was alcoholic. Her family would have nothing to do with her. We helped her clear her court warrants for “failure to appear” and “open container” violations. She couldn’t get through a detox program because of her mental illness, and the mental health provider wouldn’t help her while she was drinking. She was hit by a car while crossing in a crosswalk, spent several weeks in a hospital (where she detoxed) and with help from her mental health counselor, we found her an apartment. Since that time, she has maintained sobriety (even through the death of her “significant other” of 4 years), lives in an decent apartment and has a dog. She goes on all our outings, and acts as a “mama” to other Members. She has met and reconciled with her brother.
"Mary" was a college professor, and has published several books of award-winning poetry. Her daughter had been killed in an auto accident and she had been raising her grandchildren when her mind failed. Her grandson ended up in foster care, she ended up homeless. There was no diagnosis when she arrived at Member Services, but we tracked down her ailments – a blood clotting factor problem, discomfort from prosthetics implanted after breast cancer, and ultimately, the diagnosis of Alzheimers. We cleaned her apartment, saw to her clothes, took her cats to a veterinarian as needed, managed her money, and pled with the state to fund an adult foster home. We put a ID bracelet on her with our phone number, and arranged escorts to get her home to her apartment. Last fall we got the state’s OK and moved her to a wonderful foster home for her and her cats. We continue to take her on outings and bring her downtown for visits.
