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by Sarah Gerard
Linda Mariano is 57 years old and 95 percent deaf. She can see without glasses, she says, but she can’t read without them. Pyorrhea has rotted away most of her teeth. She has a hole in her skull the size of a silver dollar, where she was hit in the head with a brick at the age of 17 (“or 18”). She's been homeless with her boyfriend for the last seven years. They're both disabled, but were turned down for Medicaid three times. They went to the Health Department to see a doctor, and were told that they couldn’t get a primary care physician because they didn’t have an address. I talked to Linda for over an hour the other night, sitting on the sidewalk outside the Open Air Post Office in St. Petersburg, where she and Bobby sleep.
- Tags: ASAP, homeless, turning point, Metropolitan Ministries, insurance, medicaid, homelessness, asap homeless services, St. Vincent de Paul, The Salvation Army, Pinellas County Department of Health and Human Services, Pinellas County Health Department, Medicare, primary care physician, Medical Home, Pinellas Project Homeless Connect, 211, Supplemental Security Income, St. Petersburg Health Department, Free Clinic, Free Clinic Health Center, Mobile Medical Unit, Linda Mariano, Bobby "Mad Dog" Donahue, Gulfcoast Legal Services, Daystar, Haven of Rest, Department of Health and Human Services, 2-1-1 Tampa Bay Cares, We Help Services, St. Petersburg Free Clinic, Daystar Life Center, Pinellas County Health Plan, King of Peace, Maggie Hall, St. Vincent de Paul Soup Kitchen, Solid Rock Christian Recovery Center, Family Resources, Uncategorized
