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Wendy Thomas
– As told by Deidre Young
A former airline attendant, Wendy was a successful woman who laughed at the idea that she might become homeless.
When she did lose her housing, she became a beacon of light to her peers as a Consumer Advisory Board member before she died in 2013.
One of those people was Deidre Young, Co-Chair of NCAB and a Board Member of Health Care for the Homeless – Houston, who tells her story.
A Day, A Photo, and a Memory
The person I thought about was Wendy. She was the first person I knew who passed away here in Houston. Wendy was amazing. I was very shy when I first came to Health Care for the Homeless. And when I started coming to their monthly meetings, our Consumer Advisory Board (CAB) meetings, she was one of the individuals on the CAB. She was a very inspirational person for me. She saw that I was shy in the meeting, and she encouraged me to keep coming back. She shared her story, her struggles.
When I got the news that she had passed away, I was devastated because she had become my friend. And just a month before, we were sitting talking after a Board meeting. It was one of those days where she was one of the only ones there—with CABs, they grow, they shrink, people fall off, people start going through things. I had been going through something. It was hard for me to come, but I came anyway. And that day she was such an angel to me. I think she was going through something, too. But she was always so supportive.
That last day that we sat in a little group room discussing what we were going through, she was like, “You know we’ve done been through worse, right?” I’m like, “Yeah.” She was like, “So, this is nothing. We’re gonna get through this.” I’m like, “You’re right. Whatever it is, we’re gonna get through this because we’re fighters.”
I do a lot of photography. After we spoke, I asked, “Can I take a picture of you?” And she was like, “Girl, yes, why sure!” And she straightened up and got her clothes together. She had a little blue jean jacket on—it was chilly outside. And then she let me take that picture, so I got that memory of her. It was pretty fantastic.
And when she passed and I was going through all my pictures, I saw that picture and I remembered that day—April 9, 2013.
In their own words:
How Wendy came to experience homelessness.
Wendy’s Smile
Wendy had brown hair and blue eyes. She was maybe about 5’3”, 5’4”, shorter than me, and in her 50s. Beautiful smile. When I think about Wendy, all I can think about was that smile she had. You know? She had this real, I guess you could say, country twang when she spoke. It was always a joy to see her at the meetings and to know that there was somebody that was going through things and still not giving up.
And she never gave up, you know.
I believe she was homeless for about a year and a half. Maybe two. She said she had been a stewardess for a major airline, and during that time in her life, if you’d have told her she would be homeless, she would think that was the biggest joke. She was just like, “I was a successful woman with a great job.”
But circumstances happened, and she ended up being homeless. She had savings. She went through her savings. Then eventually she couldn’t afford her housing and she ended up on the streets. I believe she did not have family support. I’m not even exactly sure where she was from. But I know she ended up here in Houston.
But she went through services and got on the CAB. Eventually, she had found supportive housing, had gone through HCH clinic, and was receiving treatment.
She was a very powerful advocate for those on the streets. She had a compassion and conviction about making changes for them. She brought it to the table of our CAB. Because she was still going through services, she was more hands-on. She was a street advocate—a women’s advocate—especially for people still going through the shelters.
She could see me.
“She Didn’t Really Talk About Her Condition”
She eventually died from a medical condition—I think it was a heart attack, but I’m not sure. She was dealing with that situation, and when she came back to the group, she was like, “I’ve missed a couple of meetings. I had something going on, but, you know, I’m working on it, and I’m here.” It wasn’t something that she just came and just threw out to the group. Anytime we came to the CAB meetings, it was our way of getting out of the world and into something productive, something positive.
So she didn’t really talk about her condition.
I think anybody that has experienced homelessness on the streets would eventually be submitted to a lot of things health-wise. I’m sure that the things that she went through when she was homeless had a direct effect on her—physically, mentally, emotionally. I know it wasn’t easy for her, without giving details. I know it wasn’t easy being out there.
She was exposed to a lot of things, and I think that if she hadn’t had to spend any time on the street, she’d probably still be here.
Honoring an inspiration
We honored her on Homeless Memorial Day in 2013. During that time we were doing it at City Hall, and her name was read aloud. Her memory still lives on.
It’s always a sad occasion when someone passes on the street. It’s more personal when its somebody that you’ve spent time with, and I was really sad because I knew she wouldn’t be coming back to meetings. She was a fighter, and she was the first person that passed away that I knew personally that came from a similar background, similar struggles—even with depression.
It was really sad.
You know, being involved as much as I’ve been involved with HCH over these last five years or more—the hundreds of people that I’ve met, taken pictures of, engaged in lobbies of clinics—I know that there’s been others, too. I don’t have a number for you because even not every homeless person that dies is even acknowledged. But I know of two or three other individuals that have passed since Wendy.
More About Wendy
In this HCH – Houston YouTube video, Wendy, along with others talks about their life and struggles.
Homeless Outreach Resources
Outreach played a critical role in connecting Wendy and Deidre to services, and it has played a similar role in the lives of countless other people without homes. Outreach is fundamental to Health Care for the Homeless, and it may entail a variety of activities outside clinics, from mobile medicine to peer navigators. Learn more about homeless outreach on our website: archived webinars, tip sheets, and fact sheets are available on topics such as street medicine, mobile health care, and benefit enrollment.
Health care for all [would help end homeless deaths]. With individuals that I do see on the regular, I encourage them to come to the clinic and get checked out, get services. I realize that there is a barrier that has not always been addressed—of trust. I know we’ve done trauma-informed care over the years with the Council, but you have to really identify the barrier that’s right there.
I can sit here and talk to a guy for two years straight that sleeps on the other side of the street from the clinic, “Hey, why don’t you go in and get services?” And he’d say, “I don’t trust those people.” And I’m like, “You know, I get that.” Because there was a point in time in my life that I didn’t either.
It takes special individuals to communicate with people that are very hard to communicate with. You have to put in the forefront of your mind that every person that lives on the street has had some sort of trauma. And [it’s critical] to create a safe and comfortable environment that would allow people that are in the encampments or the ones that live right there at the top of the overpass.
The ones that most people ignore, you know?
I know we have wonderful outreach teams here in Houston, and they really are impactful in reaching a lot of individuals. I’m a big advocate for those with mental illnesses, because I’ve been diagnosed myself, and knowing what it took for me to even come into the clinic to receive services—it took a special person. It took somebody that I thought really cared and was genuine.
It’s not easy.
There are so many deterrents for people on the streets to want to come in and get help, because most of them are trying to die anyway. Some of them, anyway… They’ve come to accept that this is all life is for me, and it means so much to have a person come say, “No, there’s so much more. Just do this.”
And Wendy was kind of one of those people. She was an inspiration to me to keep coming back. She’d say, “Hey, I promise it gets better. Just keep coming back.”
And I did.
– Deidre Young
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