Access to Health & Hope

This post is part of our current Blog Series - focusing on Addiction! As you read these stories we invite you to share your thoughts, reflections and insights. This series will include stories on addiction, along with 8 articles from our most recent Messenger magazine. Our hope is that as we engage in conversation together, we can gain a deeper understanding in the midst of trials and celebrations of overcoming addiction.

Article 4 (of 8) in the Messenger magazine - Winter 2011 Edition! By Gale Thomason, Executive Director, Water Street Health Services

Carol* sat in the chair in Exam Room One with her head hanging low and the drool running in a slow drip from her bottom lip. The friend who helped her get to Water Street Health Services described Carol as having been “overmedicated for the last few days.” After checking Carol’s prescriptions expecting a month’s supply remaining, the friend found nearly empty bottles.

As I looked at Carol I silently prayed, “Dear Lord, What do you want me to do for this child of yours who has no idea how much you love her?” Often drug addiction is mainly perceived to be an issue of street drugs. However, according to the Department of Health and Human Services, more people abuse prescription medications than cocaine, heroin, Ecstasy and inhalants combined. Carol is one of many legal prescription drug addicts.

In Carol’s dangerous situation, our role at Water Street Health Services was to ensure her safety until the effects of the pills wore off. This warranted sending her to the local hospital by ambulance. Without help, Carol may have choked to death on her own vomit or even stopped breathing!

Once the initial emergency was addressed, Carol needed to discover what pain she was trying to numb through drugs. For Carol, her addiction was an attempt to mask the effects of years of sexual abuse.

I got to see Carol last month, two years after her life-threatening overdose. She had a sparkle in her eyes, and she held her head high. Smiling, she was hand in hand with her dear 5-year-old daughter. She expressed how much Water Street Health Services meant to her as we supported her through the years.

The key, Carol says, is that even in her stupor and subsequent visits to Water Street Health Services for treatment for psychiatric conditions, arthritis and GERD, she knew she was loved and not judged. For the first time, she began to understand how valuable she is to God and that He promises hope for her future.

In addition to access to health care, Carol is one of nearly 2,500 patients who find health and hope for a future at Water Street Health Services through the power
of God’s restoration.

*Name has been changed to protect privacy.

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Previous Posts in this Series:
Fighting Addiction With the Armor of God
Fighting Addiction, and Experiencing God's Love
Dying to be FREE
She Walked In
Caught Between Egypt & the Promised Land
Quitting is the easy part!
Preventing Teen Drug Use
Realizing our addictions (remember... even Jesus was tempted)
Now That Was God

Stay tuned for the next post in this series on Addiction!