Articles

 

Winter Weather Threatens Homeless

By Jami Nichols

January 7, 2010

Temperatures in NE Kansas are expected to fall to record breaking lows for the duration of the week. Dangerous wind chills are a risk for Topeka's homeless. The January 2009 Kansas Point in Time Count reported that there are and estimated 1,811 people who are homeless in Kansas.

Doug Wallace, Valeo’s Housing Resource Specialist, says “This population is especially at risk because those who are experiencing mental illness may have impaired judgment to seek shelter. When it gets really cold, many of the people living outdoors will go to the rescue mission or find friends to stay with. In January of 2009 when we did the Point in Time count it was really cold. In Shawnee County at that date, nineteen of the two hundred twenty seven reported homeless were living outdoors without shelter. One in five of those reported homeless were children under the age of 18.”

Valeo’s Homeless Outreach Partnership for Empowerment (H.O.P.E.) Team provides outreach to find services for the homeless in our community. Outreach Case Managers explore camp sites and look for signs of people needing services. As temperatures become life threatening, the H.O.P.E. Team at Valeo is working steadily with Topeka Rescue Mission to keep people safe.

Among Shawnee County’s homeless population, Valeo’s H.O.P.E. Team has worked with two brothers who go by their street names of “Lamb Chop” and “Pork Chop”. Team Leader, Dave Montgomery recalls a recent visit to their campsite when he asked them what they might need to survive these brutally cold temperatures. "They simply asked for a saw and matches to keep warm by fire. So, we took them a saw and matches. They have spent a few nights at the Rescue Mission this week." Pork Chop is now volunteering his time at Let’s Help and often assists the H.O.P.E. Team in identifying and connecting with others in need. His trust in Valeo’s Team has allowed him to receive services he was once skeptical of.

If you would like to help you may drop off blankets, sleeping bags, food, or a monetary donation to “Valeo HOPE Team”, 2401 SW 6th Street, Topeka Kansas.

Methadone: Tragedies on the Rise

By Mike Fowler, LSCSW

May 11th was the one-year anniversary of my nephew Zach’s death from a methadone overdose. He was only eighteen and it was two days before Mother’s Day. Most recovery-field professionals know methadone can be used successfully to treat a person addicted to opiates, like heroin. While methadone can save and help heal, it can also kill.The National Drug Intelligence Center estimated that during the five-year period between 1999 and 204, methadone related poisonings rose 350%. During that same time, methadone related deaths went from 786 in 1999 to nearly 4000 in 2004. By 2005, deaths caused by methadone rose to 4,700 (not including maethadone related driving accidents). It is now considered "the #2 killer drug in the US."

The memories of that day in early May remain fresh, visual, visceral. Having rushed to my sister’s house after an ominously vague call from her eldest son, I remember arriving to the confusion of a yet-to-be-confirmed tragedy. Several of Zach’s friends had contacted them with tearful condolences, saying he had died. Police had yet to arrive at this point and just as I was trying to offer some absurd scenario, that maybe this was a prank being played by some of his friends and Zach was fine or in the hospital, a dark-colored sedan turned the corner, judiciously completed a one-eighty and pulled in behind my car. The surreal became even more so, when two official-looking individuals stepped from their car and approached the house. They weren’t in uniform, but I sensed they were law enforcement. One had a clip-board in the crook of his arm. This wasn’t happening: this was some sick prank, right?

At that moment, the surreal turned to real as I met them outside and without thinking blurted out “Is Zach dead?" Grim-faced yet polite, one responded softly “And who are you?" I identified myself as Zach’s uncle and asked my question again, adding Zach’s last name so there would be no mistake. “We are with the Topeka Police Department and..." they gave me the answer I feared was coming. I knew the sobs and moans coming from inside the house would take on a deeper, more concrete, though no-less surreal, nature once they confirmed Zach’s death.

While other family members received similar calls from Jake, Zach’s oldest brother, none had yet arrived. Knowing I could not stave off the inevitable, I ushered the two officers into the living room. It now seems odd, but I couldn’t bear to give the news myself, so I just said they were from the police department and they had news about Zach, or something to that effect. A mother’s anguish is palpable, profound, in situations like these. Jake did what he could to comfort her as the wails intensified and the “my baby” screams pitched across the yard as I followed the officers from the house.

“Acute methadone intoxication” was what they told me. Details were sketchy, but the night before there was a get-together, methadone made an appearance, an impulsive act occurred, and by morning Zach, as we knew him in life, was no longer. The family hasn’t been the same and I cannot begin to describe what Zach’s Mom, Dad and brother have gone through this past year.

The two police officers, both of whom I can no longer name, but one bore a striking resemblance to the comedian Drew Carey were respectful, polite and yes, caring when delivering the devastating news. Just prior to their departure and upon thanking them for their professionalism and compassion, the Drew Carey look-alike said to me, “I’ve been doing this for many years and this is as hard as the first one I did." Tears seem to well in his eyes as if to rival my own. Then the one with the seemingly doleful eyes, looked down and pointed at my Valeo ID badge, commenting “Seeing where you work, you know what it’s like to work with people in pain. I can’t quite say exactly why or how, but that final exchange with those two offices was comforting somehow. Maybe it was the tenderness in which their comments were shared or that it touched upon why many people choose helping professions as their careers; me being one. Or maybe because it was true. Yes, as mental health and addiction recovery professionals, we work with people experiencing pain on a myriad of levels. And if we are successful, we can aid our customers in processing and circumventing that pain.

As previously-mentioned, methadone tragedies and near-fatalities are on the rise in this country. Some believe this is because it is increasingly being used as a pain-killer and not just replacement therapy for opiate addiction. Methadone is a pain-killer? I doubt Zach’s parents would agree.

Many don’t realize that a single dose, in tablet or liquid form, can be toxic (with or without tragic results) for someone who has not yet built up a tolerance for the drug. Too, methadone can interact adversely with other medications and can remain in the body for over two days. This can trigger an accumulative effect by building up in someone’s system and becoming toxic over a stretch of time.

For more information, including a heart-wrenching video in which Zach has been included, go to the HARMD (Helping America Reduce Methadone Deaths) website at www.harmd.org. May is National Mental Health Month, which I used to take note professionally, but now it has taken on a more personal meaning in light of what transpired a year ago. May 11th will always be a mournful day for our family. This year, it just so happened to fall on Mother’s Day. Something a mother should never have to experience.