Stranded on Skid Row

The 2,000 homeless who rely on free van transportation every month between skid row service centers and county medical facilities found themselves without a ride for the first time in nine years this week.

The funding for the vans was officially cut off in December. But Non-Emergent Transportation Van (Netvan)--the Echo Park-based group providing the transportation--was able to keep the shuttle service operating for an additional month with private donations.

“We’ve had crises before, but this is the first time we have run out,” said Phyllis Paxton, executive director of the health agency that runs the van program.

Since 1988, Netvan has operated from 6:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. every weekday, traveling from clinics and missions to Los Angeles County-USC Medical Center and the Claude Hudson Comprehensive Health Center. The homeless who use Netvan suffer from illnesses that require regular medical attention such as diabetes, hypertension, tuberculosis and HIV.

The city quit funding the van rides, as well as other special services provided by the Van Nuys-based Visually Handicapped Adults of the Valley and the Watts Community Labor Action Committee, saying that the groups should rely on available free rides and vouchers.

One alternative is CityRide, a program allowing people over 65 or the disabled to purchase a book of transit scrip for $15 that is good for $60 worth of transportation. It can be used to pay for taxi, dial-a-ride and bus services. The county also provides a similar service.

But Netvan officials say the majority of their clients do not meet the criteria for CityRide and similar programs, and will be left without transportation to get proper medical care.

“You have to have access to a telephone and access to money for vouchers,” said Netvan official Nikki Shipley. “Then they would need to know how long the appointment is going to take. You could be in a county facility from an hour to three hours. And the majority of our clients are ineligible [for programs such as CityRide]. They are not old enough and many are not receiving Supplemental Security Income.”

The top priorities for homeless people are food and shelter, she said. “If it’s between spending money on food and paying $7 for a bus voucher to get to the hospital, they are not going to use the bus,” she said.

The health agency is appealing the county’s denial of the group’s request for a special grant to pay for Netvan, Shipley said.

City transit program chief James Okazaki said he believes CityRide can meet the needs of the homeless and blind. “These organizations have not given us a chance. We do not want to leave any of these people stranded.”

Lisa Kaupelis, 36, who suffers from lupus, an immune deficiency illness, took the Netvan at least six times in the two weeks she has been living at downtown’s Weingart Center. The shuttle has a stop directly across the street from the center’s medical clinic on 6th Street.

“It’s gone?” Kaupelis asked, stunned when a reporter told her the news. “How am I supposed to get to the hospital? I have an appointment tomorrow morning. What am I supposed to do? That guy who made it ‘gone’ should come pick me up and take me to my appointment.”

Lori Schwartz, a case manager at the Weingart Center, said she is especially worried about her HIV-positive clients. Between 15 and 20 such clients live at the center, and about 150 more receive services there.

“The people that are HIV-positive have to go for regular checkups at County-USC and need medication,” she said. “Without that, the treatment ceases to be effective.”

One of Schwartz’s clients, a transsexual with HIV, was on the verge of tears when she was told Netvan was no longer available. Identifying herself only as “P.J.,” she said: “It’s bad enough being poor. We are nobody to them. I feel like they think that if we all die off, that’s the best thing. It’s like they are trying to keep sick and underprivileged people down.”

P.J. said she was recently issued a bus pass for disabled people that she uses as her main source of transportation, but took Netvan when she felt too ill or weak to walk the eight blocks to the bus stop. Now, she will have to take the bus regardless.

The Valley agency for the blind that lost its funding has enough private donations to keep its five-van transportation program operating until June. But its director, Joe Crise, said he worries that he will not be able to provide adequate transportation for his clients, who are blind, elderly and disabled.

“How can they expect the elderly to be able to remember to call every single day for a ride?” Crise asked. “CityRide does not pick up people at the doors. You have to wait out at the corner.”

Councilman Nate Holden, chairman of the council’s Transportation Committee, explained that money used to pay for for the three van programs had come from funds specifically designated for transporting the elderly and disabled. By ending funding for the vans, Holden said, the money will be distributed more evenly and more fairly.