For over a year now, I've been sharing stories about "Melanie" in this blog series. Here they are in reverse date order (for some reason I can't control).
Last summer, as I visited Melanie in jail, she promised me that she would never go back to using heroin. She has maintained that promise and has told me so each time I've seen her since then. She has continued to live on the streets for her own reasons that go beyond the point of this blog.
Melaine has done fairly well until about 10 days ago when, again, for reasons of her own, heroin reentered her pattern of life and her bloodstream. She has overdosed twice in these ten days and been saved by Narcan twice, once by a resident of the streets and once by a Philadelphia police officer who knows and cares very much for her.
On Wednesday, I found Melanie shortly after this second near death moment. She asked if she could rest in my car. She slept for the next couple of hours while I made my rounds visiting people with bananas, water, and song sheets. I informed each outreach worker who I saw on the streets of Melanie's situation and each one had a different solution based on their experiences and the group they represented.
In the end, Melanie, with the help of the good people of Prevention Point, got out of my car and was considering going in there for help.
As we hugged each other, I held her extra tight as I was keenly aware that I might never see Melanie alive again. Her walking path of life is far too thin these days AND it is on the side of a cliff on what I'm calling "Medicaid Mountain."
Pray for Melanie...
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