Audrey’s husband had passed and she had one 12 year old son left at home.

She took [her husband’s] death very hard. As an older widow, she made decisions that she believed would sustain a better life. She got a job and rented a nicer home. After a while though, she got very sick. Her son had to call an ambulance for her several times because she struggled to breathe. She stopped smoking, but her health continued to decline and she lost her job. It was then that she discovered black mold in her home. She fell behind on her rent and had disagreements with the landlord over the mold. Then, she was evicted. She and her son became homeless and drinking helped her to cope. On one trip to the hospital, it was discovered that she had developed cancer in her lungs. Her poor health, drinking, lack of income, and no shelter led to her son being taken from her and placed with another family member. She felt alone in her homelessness.

She began coming to Horizon House. She began working with staff and Case Management. She joined a local sobriety program and received a certificate when she completed the program. She is maintaining her health care through our onsite clinic partner, Eskenazi Health Pedigo. She has had jobs off and on in elder care, but those have been hard to find and maintain. Her background makes securing them a challenge and life on the streets makes them hard to keep. She has been robbed and in addition to losing treasured family photos, she lost her ID, birth certificate, and medical records.

She is now staying at a shelter and utilizing Horizon House services for her mail, bus passes, laundry, showers, case management, storage, and job assistance. She still has a long journey, but is “thankful for Horizon House and dreams of having her own home again.”