"Megan," aged 17, first connected with our Runaway and Homeless Youth (RHY) Outreach Workers downtown. She was homeless and couchsurfing with her boyfriend. She began coming regularly to HOME, eating meals, taking showers and doing laundry and picking up clothing and toiletries. Our RHY Team helped her with school and planning for a safer living environment. They assisted Megan with signing up for the Oregon Health Plan and they were all were surprised when she got 3 separate letters (using HOME as her mailing address) saying she was not approved for OHP. Our staff is certified to sign youth up for OHP and knew that Megan was eligible. After several calls and emails with DHS, they were told that Megan, in fact, did qualify and would be enrolled retroactively when she applied. Megan very likely would not have known to apply for OHP without the assistance of our RHY Team and it is possible that she would have accepted her “ineligibility” notices and would not have attempted the steps it took to have the situation rectified. This example demonstrates the value of assistance for these young people as they try to overcome very real barriers to becoming self-sufficient.
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