“I got myself a truck when I was about 20 and worked for the Ford Motor Company, made good money. I was a young man from Oakland on the way up in the 1970s and ‘80s. I pieced together a good living as a bartender and truck driver in San Francisco. But then I fell in with bad company and started using street drugs. Stupidest thing I ever did – I’d take that back if I could. My health got real bad and my weight was going up and down. I developed diabetes, heart and breathing problems, kidney disease, contracted hepatitis, and I was homeless. CEI saved my life. Before I got this apartment I was suicidal.”

– Mr. Burns, Age 65

About six years ago Mr. Burns happened to bump into an old neighborhood friend, who told him about the health care program she worked for, called Center for Elder’s Independence (CEI) in Oakland. That friend referred him to CEI’s enrollment staff, who referred him to community resources who helped him find stable housing so he could enroll in CEI-PACE in 2011.