Man living on the streets undergoes amputations due to frostbite

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A Saint John registered nurse who volunteers her time helping those living in homeless encampments is speaking out after a man lost part of his left leg due to frostbite.

The man also lost part of his right foot, including his toes, as frostbite set in over a matter of weeks, according to Catherine Driscoll, a friend of the family and a volunteer with outreach organization Street Team SJ.

After living on the streets for years, the man is now on the brink of getting housing, but it took him requiring a wheelchair and a prosthetic leg to make it happen, said Driscoll, who shared the man’s story with his permission but told him she wouldn’t use his name.

“It’s infuriating,” she said of the system. “It’s infuriating that that’s what it’s taking.”

It’s not clear if the man, who is in his 40s, was previously on the waitlist for social housing, but in December, he sought medical treatment for his frostbite, according to Driscoll. He was admitted to hospital for a few days, she said, but he was unsure if he wanted to go through with the amputation of his toes on his left foot.

“He got a course of antibiotics, but they didn’t think it was infected and he ended up being discharged – and discharged back to the streets where he was really unable to take care of his feet and stay warm,” Driscoll said.

After Christmas, Driscoll and other Street Team SJ volunteers visited him to find his left foot “much, much worse” and that his right foot was starting to show the telltale signs of frostbite. They cleaned and medicated his feet, wrapped them in fresh bandages, and gave him foot warmers and socks with instructions to keep his feet dry.

Fast forward a few weeks later when Driscoll learned the man had lost part of his left leg. She visited him last week in hospital where his only request was for a cup of orange juice.

“I told him, ‘This right after what happened to Evan and the fire – it shouldn’t take this for people to take notice,’ and he started to cry,” she recalled. “He was getting a little emotional.”

Only three weeks ago, Peter “Evan” McArthur – another beloved client of Street Team SJ – died as a result of injuries he suffered in a fire at a north-end homeless encampment. The 44-year-old, who had been sleeping at the time of the fire, suffered burns to 92 per cent of his body while he tried to ensure everyone else was out of the burning tent, according to his mother Heather McArthur.

In the wake of Evan’s death, Social Development Minister Jill Green announced a homelessness hub planned for Saint John would open by the end of January instead of April.

These hubs, which are already operational in Moncton and Fredericton, provide mental health and addiction services, housing supports and other resources, including health care.

In the aftermath of another person harmed while living out on the streets, Driscoll has written an email to Premier Blaine Higgs and Saint John-Rothesay MP Wayne Long, along with local MLAs and council members.

“We can’t waste anymore time,” she wrote in the email. “Nobody should lose their limb or their life in order to have the basic necessity of a home.”

Driscoll also pointed out the money spent to treat this man in hospital could have been better spent to avoid the situation all together.

“The cost of him now having an amputation and an extended hospital stay, he’s probably going to have to go to rehab, he’s going to have to get a prosthetic and a wheelchair,” she said.

“How much did this cost that could have been used for finding a solution? And that’s not even taking into consideration what it did to this human being.”

Ambulances have been called more than once

Plans for a new managed encampment site are already underway in Saint John.

Both provincial and municipal governments are looking at potential properties for the managed encampment, which could provide mini home-style structures equipped with water and power for the homeless, according to Saint John Mayor Donna Reardon.

Driscoll said the use of tiny homes is a solution she sees as viable for those who are waiting for permanent housing and choose not to access shelters. She’d also like to see increased health care for those who are living in encampments.

“We’ve had to call the ambulance more than once,” said Driscoll, who has been volunteering with Street Team SJ for a year.

“Last winter, we had someone whose hands were really, really starting to get infected and swollen and the beginning stages of frostbite, and every Tuesday we would wash them, dry them, dress them and keep an eye on them.”

Ability New Brunswick has seen an increase in certain types of preventive disabilities over the last three years, according to its executive director Haley Flaro. It’s a broad class of disability, but preventive disabilities can be the result of workplace accidents, ATV crashes, and inadequate access to pain management and stable housing, to name a few.

She said Ability New Brunswick has seen an increase in referrals of people who are homeless and need support. Her organization provides assistance to those with mobility disabilities in accessing equipment like wheelchairs and prosthetics, accessible housing and rehabilitation services.

Ability New Brunswick has reached out to Street Team SJ to offer the man assistance as he looks to acquire a wheelchair and a prosthetic leg.

“It saddened me so deeply,” Flaro said of the man’s story. “It was entirely preventable and all of the safety nets that we had failed.”