Homeless woman
moves into hotel
PHILIPSBURG--It was the perfect belated Mother’s Day gift for rehabilitated mental health patient Chantal Prince, who had been living in a car wreck and then a dusty storage room under someone’s house since returning to St. Maarten from Curaçao’s Capriles Clinic for mental patients in January.
She moved three large bags containing all her possessions into the air conditioned comfort of a room at Holland House Hotel on Monday, one day after mothers throughout the world were pampered on their special day. The hotel has agreed to put Prince up for the next three weeks, as efforts are accelerated to find her more permanent accommodation.
She had been homeless since returning to the island after rehabilitation and would have been back on the street if social worker Jim Alzan, who has only been in St. Maarten for some three months, hadn’t been moved by her story which appeared in the Thursday, April 29, issue of The Daily Herald’s Health Update. Alzan contacted the hotel, which agreed to put her up.
Close to tears, Prince, who has had a turbulent life and was almost murdered by her reputed husband several years ago, said she would now be able to take a shower for the first time in more than three months. For the first time in her life, she now has access to cable television. “God is good,” Prince said shortly after being given the keys to her room, which contains a small fridge, stove, large bathroom, closet, king-size bed, cable television and overlooks the busy Front Street shopping hub.
Prince presented a token of appreciation to the hotel for its kind gesture. “I’m very grateful,” she said.
Holland House Financial Director Marc van Iersel said Prince would have access to all the hotel’s facilities and would be pampered like any other guest. He said the hotel’s 50 staff members knew she was there and would wait on her hand and foot.
He said the hotel had not hesitated to chip in to help as a means of giving back to the community and to help Prince out of her situation. He said the hotel hadn’t been able to accommodate her earlier as it had been fully booked.
Van Iersel acknowledged that this is just a temporary measure, but expressed hope that other hotels would follow suit to accommodate her in the event that a permanent housing solution did not materialise soon.
Elzen is in frequent contact with St. Maarten Housing Development Foundation (SMHDF), which he said was doing its utmost to secure social housing for Prince.
Prince, whose entire upper body is severely scarred from burn wounds inflicted by her reputed husband several years ago, is also encountering great difficulty finding a job. She said businesses seemed to be reluctant to hire her because of her scars. At the moment she spends her days at Mental Health Foundation (MHF) doing daily chores to keep the clinic clean and taking care of the staff by serving coffee, tea and lunch.
MHF Director Eileen Healy had said Prince was a “healthy person” who “has been through a lot of disappointments in life.”
Anyone willing to assist can contact Elzen at Mental Health Foundation by calling 542-1677. (Judy Fitzpatrick)
St Maarten vacation rental
