Street roots., May 08, 2015, Page 5, Image 5

Street Roots • May 8-14, 2015
News
Page 5
BEGINNING, fro m page 4
Hooper Nursing Manager Deb Malsom
knows the situation well.
“Everybody is looking at their own
mortality when they are trying to come into
detox.” Her staff monitors them through
sometimes painful and life-threatening
withdrawals, making sure their vitals remain
stable and that they’re eating food and
drinking water. She says Rodriguez detoxed
at Hooper seven times over the years and,
despite being at some of the lowest points
in his life, “he was just a complete
gentleman every time.”
Malsom says it can be humiliating for
addicts when they return to Hooper again
and again.
“It’s like admitting defeat,” she says.
When Rodriguez was arrested in January
2009, he was 36, addicted to alcohol and
heavy drugs, he was homeless and suffering
from depression - and he had not been
legitimately employed once in his entire life.
Facing another prison stint for delivery of
a controlled substance, Rodriguez says he
caught a break.
“The judge already knew when he look at
my record that all my problems (were) drug
related,” he says. “He told me, ‘I’m going to
give you a chance. I’m going to try
something different with you this time, I
want you to go to treatment.’”
After serving 90 days in jail and then
spending the summer months avoiding the
inevitable, he gave in and entered a
treatment program at Central City
Concern’s Eastside Campus called Puentes.
The program name is Spanish for “bridges.”
When he began treatment, he was still
using. He had unsuccessfully attempted
treatment before, but this time it was
different. For one, he says, the program
“was in my language.” But he was different
too. After 15 years of struggling to survive a
life of addiction and crime in a foreign
country, he says, “I was tired. I was done.”
Rodriguez had to commit a full year of his
life to his recovery program at Puentes,
becoming heavily involved and immersing
himself in the course material. His
right now about what you’re doing, and
treatment program ran the gamut - from
that’s worse.”
mental health counseling for his depression
Rodriguez had overcome his addictions,
to anger management and drug and alcohol
but he still needed work. He couldn’t go
treatment
back to selling drugs
“I wish I have
and now, at 37, he still
words that I can
had no work history
" I try to encourage people to
express how grateful I
go to treatm ent, to recovery, to to put on an
am to Puentes,” he
employment
the steps? to the boohs« I a l­
says. “To society, I
application.
was a drug addict and ways te ll people? 'w h a t is lost Is
Puentes helped
ex con, a drug dealer, lost? yon know, b u t tom orrow Is him land a six-month
a criminal, and when I a new s t a r t /"
janitorial gig with
got to Puentes, I was
Clean and Safe in
treated as a human
downtown Portland,
being, and I was
and after that he
treated as a person for — really - who I am.
bounced around between temporary jobs for
I was treated with respect, love. It was the
a couple years. It was during that time he
first time, I would say, in my life. There
found love and brought a handsome and
were people willing to do things for me,
brighteyed little boy, Geovani Jr., into the
unconditionally.”
world.
When he graduated, Rodriguez didn’t
When Rodriguez graduated from Puentes,
want to sever his ties to Puentes.
he assumed his days at the Hooper Detox
“When it was over, I was empty handed,”
were over, but in October 2013, he once
he says. “While you’re in treatment, you
again found himself walking through the
become part of that treatment. When you
doors of the clinic.
really want to get clean and you want to
change your life, that’s your everything. But
treatment (typically) is three to six months,
“I didn’t believe it was really happening,”;
after that you feel like you are alone.”
he remembers thinking when he walked in.
. That’s why, he says, he and a few of his
He had worked diligently to stay clean in the
classmates decided to organize a Puentes
years since his repeated bouts with defeat
alumni group.
while detoxing at the clinic.
For Hie past four years, the group has
But this time was different. Hooper had
met once per month, and its members
moved to a new location on North Williams,
mentor students in Puentes’ treatment
and Rodriguez was a new man. He wasn’t
programs. “We keep guiding the newcomers
there to writhe in the anguishof withdrawal;
in recovery so they still feel part of
he wasthere.to help
something,” he says.
He was hired as on-call support and after
The Puentes alumni group is unique.
two weeks of training he began work as a
Often in Latino culture, there’s a stigma
subacute technician (SAT). He was offered a
attached to receiving drug and alcohol or
mental health treatment. It’s seen as “a kind union position within the month, and has
worked there ever since.
of weakness” says Rodriguez. The alumni
Malsom, who remembers him from his
group works to help change that perception
visits as a patient, is now his supervisor. She
in Portland’s Latino community. Rodriguez
says he carries that piece of empathy and
says he explains to people in recovery that
compassion that she looks for in her SATs.
this cultural stigma, “It’s a myth.”
“When you’re withdrawing from any kind
A common complaint is that participating
of substance, you know the story, they’re
in treatment will ruin a person’s reputation,
irritable,” says Malsom. “When you can have
to that he tells them, “You are just thinking
an SAT that can share their experiences to
of what people are going to think about you.
But yoh don’t think what people are thinking help get somebody through that, I think it’s
Better
health
here for
you
- Delivering physical, bebayorral health and
dehtal health care for over 23$;00p children,
beneficial.”
Rodriguez often works graveyard and
swing shifts, helping to monitor and assist
patients occupying the clinic’s 65 beds.
“This is hard work. It isn’t easy by any
means,” says Malsom. But you wouldn’t
know that from speaking with Rodriguez.
“When you enjoy the job, there is not a
day of work,” he says, beaming.
Malsom says she admires Rodriguez’s
soul and compassion. “I’ve seen him offer
support, and I’ve seen him go the extra mile
and help patients and encourage them, as
much as he can in his role,” she says.
Rodriguez knows exactly what his
patients are going through. “When you get
to a point where you are in a bed in a detox
clinic,” he says, “most of the time, you
(have) lost everything. That’s your last stop
and from there, it’s a new beginning. And
what I try to do is encourage people to go to
treatment, to recovery, to the steps, to the
books. I always tell people, ‘What is lost is
lost, you know. But tomorrow is a new
start.’”
For Rodriguez, tomorrow has come and
gone. He’s lives life today as a dedicated
family man, living with his girlfriend and
their son in Southeast Portland. Most
important now, he says, “My son’s
education. Being an example for my son.”
“I have fun with my family. We go to
restaurants, to movies - every weekend we
have something to do as a family. That’s how
I live my life these days,” he says, “Right
now, nothing scares me.”
■; H e ’s a ls o r e ig n ite d h is c h i l d h o o d p a s s i o n
for fishing, only now he fishes ja r sturgeon
off the Bonneville Dam rather than for big-
game tropical fish off the coast of Havana.
This summer he’s looking forward to
teaching Geovani Jr. to fish for the first
time. He’s also getting ready to further his
own education. Maybe, he says, he will
study to be a drug and alcohol counselor,
but nothing’s been decided yet.
“He is one of my favorite stories,” says
Puentes Director Daniel Garcia,
remembering Rodriguez fondly. “A true
story of success.”
em ily@ streetroots. o rg
experiencing
risk of
becoming
homeless?
or at
fam iliesand individuals on the Oregon Health
Plan in the Portland Tri-County area
Together
we are
health
www.heahhsharepregon.org
Transition
Projects
Please call 855.425.5544
or visit 650 NW Irving Street