How a Maine family lost a loved one to homelessness and mental illness
Bangor Daily NewsMar 20, 2017
Still, Tuck, 55, was unprepared for the shocking news late last month that Chase-Cosby had died, homeless and alone, in a public park halfway across the country in the city of
"We were so close," Tuck said, her eyes welling, "and we raised our children together." Brought up in
Her sister's progression into mental illness and homelessness has not only grieved her heart; it has made her more aware of the need for services that support homeless adults, many of whom suffer from mental illness. If Betsy, as her sister was called, had had better access to health care, counseling and other supports, Tuck said, her story might not have ended so sadly.
Signs of trouble
The early signs of Chase-Cosby's illness may have been masked by a lifelong tendency to deep emotional swings, a flair for personal drama, an early attraction to psychedelic drugs, a lifestyle marked by unstable relationships, a series of short-term jobs and frequent relocations, Tuck said. But things began to escalate the early 1980s, when the two were in their 20s.
"That's about the time the episodes started happening," she said.
One time, she recalled, she and a friend found Chase-Cosby hitchhiking alone.
"We stopped and got her into the van and she was rambling, talking in numbers, totally incoherent. I thought she had taken some bad acid," she said. They drove straight to the nearest hospital emergency department, where her sister was diagnosed with Graves' disease, a hyperthyroid condition that can sometimes trigger agitation, anxiety and psychosis.
But it's unclear that Graves' disease was the real culprit. Tuck said her sister had several full-blown psychotic episodes over time and was prescribed various medications to manage her symptoms. The medications would help for a while, but Chase-Cosby would invariably stop taking them, first complaining of unpleasant side effects and then developing a conviction that the drugs were an attempt to kill her.
Eventually, Chase-Cosby moved to
"I basically raised Jasmine right through high school," Tuck said. Jasmine graduated from college, joined the
Losing touch, losing track
Tuck made several trips to
Sarah, now 34, said she and her Aunt Betsy became close after she and her cousin Jasmine grew up and moved out on their own. By then, Chase-Cosby had moved to
"When she was on her meds, she was fine,"
She last saw her aunt in January of 2012, when she was contacted by police concerned for Chase-Cosby's welfare. When she arrived at the camper, she found Chase-Cosby "sitting in the snow, in the cold, not making any sense."
An ambulance arrived and transported her aunt to the Dorothea Dix Psychiatric Center in
"That's the last time I saw her," she said. It's unclear whether Elizabeth ever returned to the camper.
Then, on the evening of
Sarah Tunk thinks her aunt must have had some kind of next-of-kin information amid her belongings that enabled officials to find her.
"It was heartbreaking," she said. "I kept expecting her to just walk up the driveway someday. ... I would have dropped everything and flown out there to bring her home if I had known."
The kindness of strangers amid dwindling resources
In
"So many people here tried to help her, but she was very guarded," he said. She repeatedly refused to go to the public shelter for women and children, where she would have been offered not only food and shelter but also counseling and help to find permanent housing or connect with kin.
As an alternative, agencies had several times paid for a motel room and let her know it was available, thinking it might better suit her independent streak, but she never accepted, Naranjo said. Others, including private citizens, brought her food, which she usually refused.
Naranjo said the small city is "not immune to homelessness." In Chase-Cosby's memory, he hosted a community prayer service on
"I feel we are all God's children," he said. "We need to honor Elizabeth's life and to be reminded of others like her who walk in her shoes."
But even for those who are willing to accept interventions such as case management, counseling, housing and medication management, there's no guarantee those services will be available. Increasingly restrictive regulations mean fewer and fewer adults in
That leaves fewer opportunities for social agencies to lend a helping hand in getting the homeless off the street and into less vulnerable situations. It's a growing and unfortunate trend in many states, Kronholm said, and a contributing factor in too many sad stories.
Kate Tunk is deeply grateful to the strangers in
"Betsy was not without family or means and she had a great spirit and love for her family and children," she wrote in a letter to be read at the prayer service. "Had she had proper medication for her chemical imbalance, Betsy would not have died alone in a park, ALONE! so far away from us."
___
(c)2017 the Bangor Daily News (Bangor, Maine)
Visit the Bangor Daily News (Bangor, Maine) at www.bangordailynews.com
Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.