Helping someone who won't help herself

MILFORD - Last week’s Courier story about Marina, the homeless woman stranded in the freezing and snowy weather with no place to go, was only the tip of the iceberg of many residents’ years of struggle to lend her a helping hand. Roberta Navarro is one of these residents. “I feel as a community we need to do something. God tells us we are to care for our neighbors,” Navarro said. She has talked to Marina on different occasions and has seen her pushing herself backwards in her wheelchair along the road. Based on these observations, Navarro, who is a nurse, said, “The bottom line is that Marina cannot make good decisions for herself and that’s why she needs the community’s help. Up to this point, the system has failed her.” Ironically, her last attempt to help Marina was last Tuesday night, when the snowstorm hit the area. Navarro had called Mental Health Mental Retardation to do a field evaluation of Marina, whom Navarro believes has become a threat to herself. However, the agency could not locate Marina in order to do the evaluation. Navarro did not stop there, though. She soon filled out a petition, which was necessary in order to request another MHMR assessment. That petition was denied Tuesday. The agency found Marina’s condition was better since she was staying at a hotel. Marina stayed at a motel in Sparrowbush last Thursday through this Wednesday. Milford’s Methodist Church paid for all but one night, for which Marina paid herself. She left on Wednesday by cab and told the clerk she was “going to live at the library.” A spokesman said MHMR or a police officer has to see Marina in an unfit state; they cannot commit Marina to a hospital based on others’ observations. If the mobile unit were to assess Marina as “unfit,” she would undergo a 72-hour evaluation and further assessment at an area hospital. Such an evaluation may be involuntary, according to MHMR, and already happened a few weeks ago, but Marina refused treatment and was released. One of these days it is just going to be too late, and it will be on the conscience of this community, Navarro said. “I hope Marina stays safe until we can get the government to help her.” One of the most difficult parts in this scenario, according to Navarro, is that Marina has her lucid moments. Apparently, sometimes she is perfectly fine … other times she is not. Susan Breitner has been on a crusade to help Marina for the better part of the last three years. “I’ve spent entire days helping her … I’ve done everything. I’ve dialed every number in the phone book; I called every single agency I could think of.” Breitner said she was turned away from the Salvation Army. Welfare services could not offer help because Marina refused to fill out the necessary papers. Survivors’ Resources could not do anything because Marina is not a battered woman, and every single church she called did not return her calls. Her calls to find Marina’s family were also unsuccessful. Over their three-year acquaintance, Breitner said that Marina “has descended into madness.” At first, Breitner recalled, Marina had nice jewelry, wore make-up, had a briefcase, and pretty blonde hair. Breitner, a literary agent, also recalls having a very in-depth discussion with Marina about the writings of John Donne one day in the parking lot of Price Chopper. That was about two years ago. From Price Chopper to the Welcome Center to K-mart Plaza, Breitner followed Marina, offering food and money whenever she could. Breitner learned, after one encounter with Marina in the Kmart Plaza parking lot, that Marina claimed she was being chased by the Florida police and was suing FEMA. It was this encounter that further persuaded Breitner into thinking that Marina was sinking into a worse state. Now, Breitner believes that Marina is going through a deterioration - physically and mentally. Milford resident Victor Sturgis said that during bad weather in past, Marina has often taken him up on his invitation to sleep in a van that he parks in his backyard. “I used to go out and get her when the weather got bad,” he said. The offers came with a price though. “I would wake up hearing screaming out there, like someone was getting murdered.” Asking her what the problem was, Sturgis said Marina told him that people were trying to kill her and was amazed he had not heard them. Her deteriorating mental state worried him. “I thought, you know, I could wind up getting arrested here,” Sturgis said. Another position voiced following last week’s story was that either Marina or her family should be responsible for her actions. She has relatives in the Milford or Shohola area, one caller said. “Why are they allowing her to go on like this,” she said. Still another anonymous caller to the Courier labeled the earlier account bias and one-sided, failing to speak of the damage that Marina has done in various places where she has found or been offered shelter. “You say she’s not allowed in the library, but you don’t talk about the door that had to be broken down when she locked herself inside the bathroom,” the caller claimed. “(The story) hurts the community. It makes it seem that the community doesn’t care. The problem is that she doesn’t want to help herself,” the caller concluded.