Housing Advisory Board Orange County Division (HAB-OCD): October 2021

Feature Image

Name of Paper

Rent a Shared Room Gallery Study addressing a homelessness solution by Keith Torkelson MS – AMIN_202110_A

Filename - Metadata

02_AMIN_202110_A_RASR_Bed_21080602_Gallery I

Abstract

We are Mentalation Solutions Group (MSG). Keith “Buster” Torkelson is our principal. We have been working semi-tirelessly on solving housing concerns for disadvantaged persons including the homeless since 2009. We find one on the major housing resources is: Renting a Shared Room (RASR). This paper documents some of those with Rent a Shared Room experience. Most if not all of the photographs in this paper are Buster and MSG originals. Our product to connect those in need with a RASR Bed is our Housing Help Line solution (HHL). We find that short of our environmental monitoring solution only the consumers can tell you what it is like sharing a room with other consumers. We include very little data in this report other than features of the report itself. This paper is a product of our Accountability and Transparency Movement (A&TM). For the majority of the Homeless and those in need of a GoodBed they will end up in a shared room. When it comes to the model RASR facilities we use Guarded Disclosure because we can’t burn bridges for Buster who himself rents a share room. He shares with a consumer. We are in the sprint phase of this paper. Just as we were closing this out Buster meets up with what is very likely a County Driven Outreach & Engagement (CD_O&E) event. We captured a bit of it on video and photographs. We will hold off detailing this event.

Last Reviewed: 20211020-W:

Image Management – Image Engineering

Buster has been shooting photos that chronical Renting a Shared Room (RASR) for some time now. The one’s he took in his college days while sharing a room in the dorm come in handy for detailing current RASR unmet needs. Nearly all images and video clips are Keith “Buster” Torkelson MS originals (TorkMark). Fortunately he captured some remarkable shared room experiences. Images and video captured, processed, and compiled by Keith “Buster” Torkelson MS, Avey C Asus, EMe and Lled Buzzard of Mentalation Solutions Group (MSG).

Control AMIN-202110_A

We have included some odd twelve (12) feature images of those associated with the Rent a Shared Room (RASR) environment. We feel it important to capture and share their experiences. Our goal is to punctuate baseline situations about Renting a Shared Room (RASR).

Revival

Accountability MHSA Innovations Newsletter (AMIN)

From 2014 to 2018 we here at Mentalation Solutions Group (MSG) published our Accountability MHSA Innovations Newsletter or AMIN. Our records indicate we left off at edition number 14 (AMIN-0014). For fall quarter 2021 we have decided to resume with our AMIN format by chartering AMIN-202110_A. When we left off we were addressing housing concerns and unmet housing needs in Orange County California and how the MHSA monies could be better leveraged to meet the unmet needs. Over the course of fall quarter 2021 we will focus much attention on MSG’s Housing Help Line solution.

Characters First

Below is a table defining some odd fourteen (14) characters associated with living in a Rent a Shared Room (RASR) environment. A few are: Dead now. Some are: Missing in Action (MIA). We have addressed some of these characters in depth in prior publications. For now we hold back details about the facility at the center of most of these associations. For now just know the facility is located in Santa Ana California.

Last Reviewed: 20211020-W:

ADL-E = Activities of Daily Living Extended

Metadata > MSGBase > Associated Document
04_SCR_RASR_John_20082902_Notes V2021

Embedded Gallery

At the center of this report is MSG media capturing real world experiences of those associated with Renting a Shared Room. In all we share about 30 images. By no means are these thirty (30) images representative of all that goes on and goes wrong with renting a bed in a Rent a Shared Room (RASR) environment. After the image slideshow we will return to describing the characters in the photos.

Feature – Characters – Lessons Learned

By no means does this cover most of the lessons that we have learned about Renting a Shared Room (RASR). If you compare a classroom cohort with a RASR cohort you find that the students converge about a pro-social end point such as passing an exam. With a RASR cohort most everyone is diverging in an asocial manner.

Last Reviewed: 20211017-SUN:

PEI = Prevention & Early Intervention

TAY = Transitional-aged Youths

The Center - Embedded Image Gallery

Mikel and Buster shared a room

Mikel thinks the Psuedo-bulbar thing he has going

is normal

John T

Shared a room with Buster

He is sleeping off a bender

Standard of Excellence

Keith "Torque" Torkelson shares a room with

Lawrence "Chanman" Chan

Grumpy Old Man Al

In the TV Room

Al has since died

Ted Francis is the shot caller

Has anger issues

Has problems sleeping at night

2021 October shares room with Buster

Hi Herbert!

Miss you

Will address Herbert at the end

Mikel kicking it on the floor

Eating Crunchy Food

John S

All we can say is to young to be stuck

He also lies around in the community

William S on the top bunch short-term over Buster

William is now in a skilled facility

recovering from his broken hip

Hip replacement

Mike "Speedy" O

Buster visits him in the hospital

Though he was going to die

Yet he pulled through

This is New Old Man John

We address in our next edition of AMIN

He is actually within a year of dying

Not dealt with elsewhere

This is Wally-gator with Buster having all-you-can-eat

Buffet

Wally has since died

This is Mikel arguing that it is OK not to sleep at night

Mikel smoking "Spice" in the middle of the night...

...and the outcome

Mikel was re-assigned to another house

Phillip only lasted 1 night

Making noise all night long so loud the landlord heard him

For some sharing a room has its' time and place

WW II Navy Sailors

John T waits for the bus on his way to "Work"

The bottle on the ground to his right

Has alcohol in it

This is Mikel's Brother

We now have a better relationship with

Mikel's Bro than Mikel

John T and Buster T

Denny's

John is relatively high functioning

Buster with John T and the bus stop for their morning meeting

Buster has been trying of a year to get John literate

and work a program of SUD Recovery

Standard of Excellence

Lawrence here shared a room with Buster for nine months

1983-1984

Photo Mikel's mom shared with Buster

Buster loosely re-united Mikel with his family

Mikel is in the middle in the back

Dying Old Man (DOM) status

They are in the TV room

If asked none could tell you details of what they are watching

VA releases Rochester "Basalt" Cannon

Then dies!

This photo is actually of Basalt in Fountain Valley Hospital

Buster visiting when it matters

Intervention on the top bunch

Cedric homeless in his car

This is Christina coming for free food

Christina is a Room and Board owner

Buster kicking it with Cedric after Cedric went homeless in his car

Aspects & Our Housing Help Line Solution

Last Reviewed: 20211020-W:

Repurposing Technological Needs Time

From 2009 till 2018 Keith “Buster” Torkelson MS served on the Mental Health Services Act (MHSA) Technological Needs Component driven Technology Advisory Committee (TAC). During this time he participated with closing a few projects such as meaningful use with the Electronic Health Record and consumer computers for use at the county clinics. We here at Mentalation Solutions Group (MSG) find working with technology more rewarding than working with housing. Housing for the disadvantaged in Orange County California is quite a difficult puzzle. Yet, housing remains a pressing unmet need for our consumers. In repurposing our TAC time we will focus on the technological aspects of our housing solutions such as our Housing Help Line. This also includes any information that may be need to know about training the certified peer housing specialists that manage calls.

Housing Help Line Query

Why are you moving?

Well I can’t rest or get enough rejuvenating sleep. I live with this veteran guy: Rochester “Basalt” Cannon. I’ve shared a room with him on two occasions. Basalt began as an OK roommate when it came to destructive noise making. Initially I was getting good sleep and my bed seemed to be a GoodBed. After over a year sharing a room with Basalt began coughing, hacking, and snorting (CHS). During the day I did my best to work around Basalt’s CHS yet eventually he was doing it during quiet time in the room (830pm-830am). This made it very hard for me to sleep. I told Basalt to stop telling his VA Doctor (Salty) that he is OK. On June 27, 2021 (SUN) in the morning while in the TV room Rochester “Basalt” Cannon died. His CHS was an indicator for severe heart problems. Within a month of being released from this hospital he was dead. Apparently, the VA Hospital in Long Beach had prematurely released him. Basalt doesn’t cough, hack or snort anymore.

A MSG Legacy Post

Mar 6, 2019
Keith Torkelson’s SleepAbility Study 2019 Number I
A Right to Sleep (MSG, 201903) & Crisis Intervention
Health & Human Services Advisory

http://ktork46.blogspot.com/2019/03/keith-torkelsons-sleepability-study.html

Summary – Right to Sleep – Crisis Management

The feature or lead image for this publication is of Rochester “Basalt” Cannon. It addresses the incidences when Buster’s exhausted his coping behaviors and needing to ask for help. There are some assessment results reported in this report. Buster addresses his days at UC Davis when he shared rooms with highly functional people. We briefly outline a mechanism to describe Buster’s sleep processes: Sleep Associated Crisis (Beta) Mechanism (SACM). We here at Mentalation Solutions Group (MSG) believe that people have “Right to Sleep (MSG, 201903)”. Impaired sleep complicates health issues and may lead to pre-mature death.

Purposes for this AMIN series

We here at Mentalation Solutions Group (MSG) enjoyed helping Keith “Buster” Torkelson MS deliver the first round of his Accountability MHSA Innovations Newsletter (AMIN). We enjoyed a fairly good post viewership. After a relatively short hiatus, we are now chartering AMIN round 2. With round one we covered a fairly broad range of MHSA topics. With round 2 we will concentrate on unmet housing needs with a focus about Orange County California. In every edition we will promote our Housing Help Line solution.

Purposes of Gallery - Individual Purpose

Buster often wonders while trying to get things done in a Dying Old Man environment: What purpose his sharing serves? Much of Buster’s life he has been being of service some paid some volunteer. In Health & Human Services: Being of service alone for quite some time was reward for his efforts. Buster has helped usher along several Dying Old Men (DOMs) such as: Wally Gator, Don Hockett, Errol S, Rochester “Basalt” Cannon, Herbert Hoover-Porter, Mark Allen, Old Man Al, etc. Buster often wonders at age 62 why he is not a DOM. For one he finds value in “Being of Service”. Another factor is Buster is literate. The DOMs he associates with spend their time in front of the TV rather than writing anything. Our position here at Mentalation Solutions Group (MSG) is always defending the consumer position. This includes the DOMs. There are a few exceptions one being if the consumer lives in Buster’s room and interferes with Buster’s sleep he will complain about the consumer and serve his own interests. “Save yourself then help others!” While defending the consumer we get to hear some great testimonies about inappropriate services.

Ever wonder if your work makes a difference?

Basically, Buster holds a degree in Avian Science and a graduate degree in Pathology. Both are out of UC Davis California. Then after several “crash and burns” he crossed over into the Social Sciences in the field of K-12 teaching. Around 2009 the Orange County Health Care Agency (HCA) sold him with the idea of participating in Health and Human Services. As aforementioned, Buster is now 62 years old. Buster’s productivity is down. So we are working with our “more can be less” principle. We hope to improve Mentalation Solutions Group’s (MSG’s) sales and marketing skills while leveraging our work done. Much of what we say now is repeating what we said and shared before. We hope to re-gain the attention of our HCA associates in a nice manner. We will state we are a bit frustrated with the HCA at the present time. We have and will continue to honor the fallen and lost. The lessons they demonstrated “should not be forgotten”. With remarkable instances about our community we only capture a tiny fraction. Last we are a voice for our inappropriately served. There are people at this moment in our community in need of a GoodBed. Buster is always at risk of homelessness and will benefit from securing a BetterBed. Some will not find their GoodBed in time before a suicide or accidental overdose. We will endure and find momentum to carry through and beyond our OCHCA MHSA funded Housing Help Line.

Purposes of the Gallery - Public Health & Wellbeing

After the Corona distraction some priorities for Public Health in Orange County are addressing stigma, suicide and accidental overdosing. For these areas there is nearly always a bed in the scenario. This is usually a BadBed. Years ago the county Orange County Health Care Agency (HCA) bounced some of its Mental Health Services Act (MHSA) Prevention & Early Intervention (PEI) monies up into a Joint Powers Authority (JPA). With the money CalMHSA (JPA) promised to develop promising practices to manage suicide and stigma statewide. Some of our goals with this new and improved AMIN series is to address: Accountability, Stigma, and Suicide. Our focus is about providing the best beds (BestBed) possible for those in need. An ancillary effort is to continue promoting our innovative Housing Help Line solution.

Associated Studies

Last Reviewed: 20211014-F:

Summary - Lessons Learned

The primary lesson we here at Mentalation Solutions Group (MSG) learned with this study is that both we and the county are behind. As an individual and about the OCHCA we’ve missed prior benchmarks for solving housing issue housing. This applies to both those in Rent a Shared Room BadBeds and those in homeless BadBeds. When it comes to providing enough GoodBeds the consumer is best at a center of distinction. Both consumer bed users and consumer bed providers must be engaged to intelligently resolve local and housing issues abroad. Here we have provided some housing baseline intelligence. It is very hard obtain the consumer perspective about the beds they have had or have now. It is even harder to get photographs that further support the consumers’ testimonies. We began our efforts solving housing issues by promoting our Housing Advisory Board (HAB) Innovations Idea Plan. Because it is easier to visualize a housing call center we will shift focus on selling our Housing Help Line Call Center (HHL).

Summary – Housing Solution – Selling a HHL

Gradually we are beginning to spend less time with Buster’s personal health and housing needs. His current Rent a Shared Room (RASR) roommate has let him sleep for three nights in a row. We still use Buster as a model to flesh out our Housing Help Line solution. While we wait to submit our solutions as an Orange County Health Care Agency (HCA) Mental Health Services Act (MHSA) Innovations Component Project Idea (IPI) we will continue to investigate other funding sources such as the MHSA Prevention & Early Intervention (PEI) money stream.

Images @ the End

Honoring Herbert Hoover Porter