Client Vignette: Robert and Beverly Sirkel

CLIENT VIGNETTE: ROBERT & BEVERLY SIRKEL TOMS RIVER, NJ

Home (Robert Frost once wrote) is the place where, when you go there, they have to take you in. For Robert and Beverly Sirkel, home had suddenly become a place they had to leave as soon as possible, an increasingly cold and profit-driven place, very different from the warm, welcoming environment they had enjoyed for so many years.

Now in his 50’s and suffering from multiple disabilities due to injuries sustained as an infant, "Bobby" Sirkel has lived at Health South for the last 26 years. For Beverly, it’s been 17 years since the auto accident that made her a patient and a resident there. Each in a motorized wheelchair, for years they could be seen together in the long hallways of the facility, or out in the sunny courtyard. Since their marriage almost two years ago, they’ve shared a room.

This little world, this only home they knew, seemed to fall apart the day they were notified that, due to changes at Health South, their Medicaid benefits would no longer cover the cost of their staying there. They would have to leave—and they didn’t know where they would go.

But, as Bobby says, "I’m a fighter. I would not give up." Through a friend, they contacted Ocean-Monmouth Legal Services and soon Dennis McGlinchy was on their case. A scheduled hearing on the Sirkels’ failure to vacate was canceled, avoiding what would have been an ordeal for them. Instead, McGlinchy secured a six-month extension at Health South, so they would have the time to find a new home—not just a facility that would take them in. They have, in fact, found a place, though they’re on a waiting list, and must hope that space opens up before their six-month extension ends.

Although their circumstances may be unique, the Sirkels are like many Legal Services clients: they’re very grateful for what Legal Services has done for them, yet they know that life will continue to be a struggle because of the hand that has been dealt to them. But you know that Bobby will continue to fight to make the best of things, with Beverly at his side.