 |
| photo cred: thecommentator.com |
I explained in my last post (HERE) that Neil and I are now serving as the missionary couple over our church’s local 12-Step Addiction Recovery Program. It has been an eye-opening experience. For the record, I will NEVER disclose any of the things that occur during our meetings. I will, however, share things that I have learned about addiction and recovery in general. I think it is too important of a subject to not share things that might help others.
As part of our training, we had the opportunity to visit two detox/rehab centers in Palm Beach County that are run by the government. I know that I have lived a pretty sheltered life and that I have lived in a happy bubble for most of it. Let me just tell you that the bubble has burst and I have seen first-hand what a messed up world it is that we live in. The system is broken, my friends, and I saw one of the cracks break right in front of me.
While we were waiting to meet with one of the leaders of the center we were visiting, I started a conversation with a young tattooed woman who was waiting to be seen. She was an open book as she explained to me that she had been in rehab before, but she desperately wanted to be readmitted for help. She had a three-year-old daughter, but she signed her parental rights over to her own mother to care for her child. I kind of wondered how that was working out when she told me that everyone in her family was a user.
This young woman looked perfectly fine to me. She wasn’t strung out or acting strangely or doing any of the things that my limited knowledge of drug addicts told me she would be doing if she was high. But she had desperation in her voice. This time, she said, rehab was going to save her.
*******
Break In the System Number 1: I watched as she was “processed” through the system. It took forever. The fact that she endured the two hour check-in procedure without running out of the place was a testament to me that she really did want to get help. There were enough deterrents for anyone to give up and leave. But she endured the endless questions. I saw her carrying bottles of her prescription meds. She was prepared to explain all of the medications she was taking She had a suitcase packed for her stay. She was ready.
She had been walking in and out of the processing office to go back and forth to her suitcase and her cell phone, which she bravely left charging unattended. The lobby of a drug rehab facility is not the best place in the world to leave your possessions. But she didn’t care. She just wanted an empty bed. She was cooperating. Whenever she walked back out to the lobby, I asked her if she “made it in.” She kept saying, “I hope so,” and then proceeded to share with me what stage of the processing process she was in. Her hope was the highest when she said, “Now they are just checking my urine. It will come back positive, and then I’m in!”
Break In the System #2: Her urine test came back negative. No bed for her. She was being sent home. She begged and pleaded. She said there was no way that with her drug of choice and how she administers it that her urine test could be negative. (She never said what drug it was or how she took it.) She was in tears. She had to go home. No help tonight.
Break In the System #3: THEY TOLD HER SHE COULD COME BACK IN 24 HOURS.
What?????? Do you know what that means? My mouth fell open when I heard her say that. Basically, they were telling her to go home, use the drugs again, and then return for another urine test when she would be even more certain that the drug would still be in her system.
I wanted to take her home with me. I wanted to tell her that it would all be okay. But I couldn’t. All I could do was sit there, frustrated, wondering how we have arrived at this broken system that we have. This woman was begging for help. There was no help to be found that night. At least not help provided by the government. Now if she had proper health insurance, I’m sure she could have gone to any number of facilities, if her urine was positive or negative. But that my friends, is a topic for another day. It’s all broken. Unfortunately, I don’t know how to fix it.