Michelle Bateman. Although her eyes are open she is still unconscious. Photo courtesy of the Philadelphia Inquirer.

Cheers to the Philadelphia Inquirer for this article that cites the social workers who helped Michelle Bateman, a formerly missing woman who lay unconscious and unidentified for four months in the hospital.

Bateman’s family was able to locate her due to the efforts social workers at the University of Pennsylvania Hospital. The social workers had tried to find her identity through missing-person Web sites, calls to hospitals and health and community centers, and a TV news report.

Finally the social workers turned to the Philadelphia Inquirer, which ran an article and several photos of Bateman that led to her family finding her. Batemen has been unconscious since going into cardiac arrest on a park bench on Aug. 13.

Q: Social workers, how common is it for you to connect homeless, mentally ill, and sick clients to their families?