Homeless veterans face uphill battle for help

Marine combat veteran Sergio Hernandez, 49, needs an MRI so that VA doctors can learn more about his short-term memory loss, early onset dementia and other issues linked to traumatic brain injuries from his overseas deployments.

But Hernandez, who has lived at Pensacola's Waterfront Rescue Mission for the homeless since January, doesn't have a phone, cannot navigate the VA's complicated automated appointment scheduling system without help and has a lot of trouble remembering his appointments once they are made for him.

He is among the more than 50 Pensacola-area homeless veterans who advocate Dianna Montoya, who is employed by the Panhandle Warrior Partnership, works with through the mission and other nonprofit organizations.

Post 9/11 combat veterans like Hernandez are a special challenge, Montoya said Thursday as she met individually with many of the veterans at the Waterfront Rescue Mission.

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"The No. 1 issue is getting them to seek help in the first place. Some are really disgruntled and others are so broken that they do not know what to do," she said.

Female homeless veterans are even more difficult to reach because they are more reluctant to seek help, Montoya said.

The homeless veterans outreach is one of many programs provided by the Pensacola-based Panhandle Warrior Partnership, which serves veterans throughout the western Panhandle.

Hunter Glover enlisted in the Army as a teenager and served for two years. He is now 27. Glover met with Montoya on Thursday to try and figure out the next step in his life after spending months in counseling overcoming drug and alcohol addiction issues.

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Montoya talked with Glover about his life, his progress in overcoming addiction and other issues before making calls to another area profit about trying to find him work.

"A lot of times rather than just asking them what they need and how we can help, I try to spend time talking with them first. They are going through a lot of really difficult things and it helps to listen," Montoya said.

In one case, Montoya convinced a homeless vet to call his estranged adult daughter. She talked to the woman before handing the phone to the veteran. The father and daughter reconnected and the daughter came to the shelter and took her father to her own home.

Navy Veteran Claude Hanner's case is complex. Hanner, 62, has been diagnosed with the neurodegenerative disease ALS, which has been linked to his Navy service. Hanner has been trying for more than five years to get full benefits from the VA for his disability, but cannot navigate the complicate bureaucratic system. Because he lives at the homeless center, he does not have regular access to a phone or a computer.

With the $2,200 monthly disability payment, Hanner said, he could afford an apartment and meet his basic needs.

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"Having that money would mean everything to me right now," he said.

Montoya made numerous calls for Hanner and determined his VA claim had been filed in Mobile and somehow linked to the St. Petersburg's VA office. She told Hanner he would need to go to the Pensacola VA clinic and see a case worker there. But Hanner, who does not have a car, would need to catch a 5:30 a.m. bus to be in line at the VA before 6:45 a.m.

"If you get there past 6:45, they won't see you that day," Montoya told him.

Hanner's concern — missing the free breakfast provided at the homeless center.

Montoya said she would see about getting him a food voucher.

"Every case is different and every case is complicated," she said.

Hernandez, the Marine veteran, watched as Montoya called the VA and put the automated phone system on speaker phone. After a lengthy series of holds and button pushes, she reached someone who could reschedule his MRI.

But the terse apportionment scheduler first admonished Hernandez for missing his previous appointment, told him that all of his future appointments would be canceled and that he would have to start over with his doctor if he missed the next appointment, and questioned why the VA was not able to reach him by phone to confirm his appointments.

Montoya said she would take his case in hand and go with him to the next appointment if necessary to ensure he made it.

Hernandez told Montoya that he forgot about the scheduled MRI appointment and chose to spend the day riding a bus around Pensacola instead. He said he likes to ride the bus to get away from the homeless center.

"Sometimes I just need to get away from here," he said.

Montoya meets with the veterans at Waterfront Rescue Mission individually on Thursday and meets with them as part of a larger group of advocates from the VA and area nonprofits every Monday. The various groups work together with the VA to try and get the veterans off the streets.

But Montoya said the groups are fighting a difficult and growing problem.

"There are just so many aspects to it from divorce, to alcoholism to financial issues and PTSD," she said.

For more information about the Panhandle Warrior Partnership and the Waterfront Rescue Mission visit www.panhandlewarriors.org/ or https://waterfrontmission.org/.