Rough Sleepers by Tracy Kidder

Author:Tracy Kidder [Kidder, Tracy]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
Published: 2023-01-17T00:00:00+00:00

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Some of the misery encountered on street rounds was easily leavened—by examining the wound, the dermatitis, the not-exactly-benign-looking lump on the forehead, and then inviting the patient to go to Mass General, where at least one of the Street Team’s providers was on duty every weekday but Friday. Sometimes the remedy was simple—a rough sleeper saying he needed a pair of size 11 heavy-duty boots, which Jim would promise to bring him. Sometimes, though, the crew came up against something unspeakable. On this warm October Friday, the victim was an old favorite, a woman Jim remembered as once having been pretty and mischievous, now with no teeth and confined to a wheelchair, but still alert and sassy—she had a cackling laugh. In emergency room notes from the night before, Jim had read that she’d been drinking, had met a man who threw her in the trunk of his car and later raped her and punched her several times. The ER had treated her physical injuries. When the team on rounds ran into her, she’d just been released and was heading for Mousey Park. Jim asked if she would go to McInnis House. As usual, he added, “Or no?”

“I’m not ready. You know what I mean, Jim.”

As the crew moved on, the young psychiatrist in training asked Jim, “She was raped last night? Can one bounce back that fast?”

“I can’t figure out trauma on the streets,” Jim told her. “Our people get drunk, and they kind of blame themselves. She wasn’t outraged by it.”

Later, toward the end of rounds, the young psychiatrist said to me, “I’m trying to figure out why one feels uplifted by this work.” She added, “The word ‘saint’ comes to mind.” She was referring to Jim.

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