Charlotte Emergency Housing

Most days, Erica is in her car, crisscrossing south Charlotte, from Pineville to Ballantyne and points in-between. She visits her clients in their homes, where she helps them bathe, cares for their wounds, monitors their meds. Erica is a home health aide. She’s been a certified nursing assistant for 22 years. “I love it. That’s why I’ve done it for so long,” she says. “My clients look forward to seeing me.”

Her work and her family have been the two constants in Erica’s life these past two decades. They’ve helped keep her going despite devastating setbacks. Erica — who is in her second stay at Charlotte Emergency Housing — has been through enough to defeat even the most resilient person, but she knows her story is not over yet.

Erica was born in Asheville 40 years ago. She graduated from community college, where she also became certified in phlebotomy, and went to work at a treatment center for Alzheimer’s patients in Black Mountain. She married and had a boy and a girl, but after 11 years, her marriage broke apart.

Faced with raising two children on her own, Erica moved to Charlotte, hoping to provide her children with better schools and more opportunity. She went to work 16 hours a day four days a week. The schedule was grueling but enabled her to rent a townhouse and support her family. “I wanted a new start for me and my kids,” she says. “Things were going good.”

Then, she came home from work late one night to find teenage boys arguing near her home. She heard someone shout, “Shoot then. Just shoot then,” and teens opened fire. She saw one boy fall dead and another take his last breath. Of the shooters, Erica says, “I didn’t know their names, but I knew their faces.”

The next night, she returned from work to find her townhouse shot up. Her children were safe, but her home was a mess. The experience shook Erica. “When the police asked me to testify, I said yes.” They also told her about Charlotte Emergency Housing (CEH), where she and her children moved for about seven months. She testified against the two shooters, who were convicted and sentenced to life in prison. And with the help of CEH, Erica got her life back to together.

She rented a three-bedroom house in a close-knit community in west Charlotte. Most of her neighbors had been there for years. “The children loved it,” she says. “I knew every kid in the neighborhood practically. We were a mother to each others’ kids.” She was working seven days a week to make sure her children had what they needed. She tended to the health of her clients, but her own health sometimes took a back seat.

Last year, Erica suffered a stroke. It weakened her right side and impaired her speech and memory. Fluid gathered around her brain and heart. She spent five months in a rehab center doing intensive therapy to regain what she had lost. By then, her son had graduated from high school (with a 4.2 GPA) and was in the Navy. Her daughter had to stay with friends, which was not ideal.

But ultimately luck was with her. “My doctor told me that I am the one in ten who can come back from a stroke like this.” To see Erica or hear her speak, you wouldn’t know what she’s been through this past year. But her medical travails are not over. She has a permanent shunt to drain her head of fluid. She takes numerous medications and sees many doctors. Because her health insurance lapsed, she faces hefty medical bills and has had to apply for Medicaid.

When the rehab center released her, she couldn’t go back to her house, because it had problems with mold and mildew. The company that rented it to her moved her to another house, rent-free, until they could repair her old one. Her niece came up from Asheville to help care for her, and she and her daughter settled in. But just four days later, disaster struck again. Her niece left a pot of grease on the stove and set the house on fire. Everyone got out, but Erica lost everything. She had renter’s insurance on her previous home, but not this temporary one. “Everything I worked very hard for is gone,” she says.

She called Karen with CEH, who told her to come right over, and Erica and her daughter moved back into CEH. “They gave us pots and pans,” she says. “We didn’t have anything from the fire — nothing left but us and some wet stuff.”

CEH staffers buy medication for Erica when she can’t afford it and make checklists to help her remember to take it. Both Erica and her daughter struggle with depression. “We are blessed here,” Erica says, “because it’s a huge support system, with the social workers and Ms. Karen and Thelma.” Every hug means a lot, she says. “I always see a smile before I go to work.”

Despite everything that’s happened, Erica can find things to be grateful for — such as CEH. And her employer, which held her job for her. “They really believed I’d come back. I’m thankful for that.”