Suburbanites are becoming the new face of homelessness in America

[Aristus]

1. One day spent with me at the homeless clinic would open a lot of eyes

and shock the hell out of a lot of people.

Between 2008, when I left the clinic where I had been working as a Medical Assistant to train as a Physician Assistant, and 2011, when I returned, the face of homelessness changed substantially. Previously, many of our patients had conformed to what most people think of as homeless; unkempt, bedraggled, wearing all of their clothes and carrying all of their possessions. Mentally ill, addicted to one drug or another, no hope of betterment, etc.

WhenI started providing care there as a PA, I was a little shocked by how many of my new patients were clean, well-dressed, well-educated, etc. They had been living one paycheck away from the streets, like a lot of Americans, and had had their lives devastated by the incompetent idiots on Wall Street.

People who know me, but don't share my liberal beliefs, know better than to disrespect the homeless around me.