Without housing and sustained medical care, Mary Gilbert has few options besides death on the street. She’s distrustful, stubborn and independent. But this does not absolve The City’s public health system for enabling this horrifying situation.
Mary Gilbert sits with her belongings at a Muni bus stop at California and Sansome streets in the Financial District on Friday, Feb. 18, 2022. Mary Gilbert says she once worked for the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency, doing part-time clerical work at a bus yard near Fisherman’s Wharf. Today, she lives on a bench at an abandoned MUNI bus stop in the Financial District.
Gilbert’s story illustrates the challenge of providing care for the most vulnerable among California’s estimated 161,000 homeless people. Despite unprecedented efforts and billions of dollars in new spending, including over $1 billion earmarked for San Francisco, people like her fall through the cracks in a system that often seems designed to fail.
I met Gilbert in September. While walking to catch a bus, I heard a voice say, “Excuse me.” I kept going, but she grew more insistent. When I stopped, Gilbert handed me $40 and asked me to bring her the fried chicken from Wayfare Tavern. “I hung on for a little over a year,” she said. “There’s no handbook for this. I didn’t know where to go.”
After Saint Francis discharged her on Thanksgiving, Gilbert’s outraged supporters launched a determined effort to help her. On Dec. 3, a group of them gathered at the bus stop, joined by members of San Francisco’s Homeless Outreach Team and a crew of firefighters. Hopeful that things might change, Gilbert’s friends watched as paramedics loaded her into a hospital-bound ambulance.
“There’s such a huge need for different levels of care, but there often isn’t in-between stuff, so there isn’t really a good fit for folks,” said Cutler.
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