December 2019

Winner of Multiple Awards fromo Our college. Our news. Our voice. Naugatuck Valley Community College December 1, 2019 Waterbury, Connecticut Vol. 64, Iss. 4 BeyondAnjelika Rodis the Margins A 58-year-old man sits just outside St. Vincent withdrawal symptoms by self-medicating. de Paul Soup Kitchen, staring forlornly across However, stigma feeds this desperation. “I the street. Hunched into his puff jacket, a self-medicate because it’s cheaper to get it off square of cardboard beneath worn shoes, the street, but that’s just one side of getting bet- “John” chooses to remain anonymous, but is ter. I can’t get the right therapy while I’m still willing to speak with me. “Homelessness is a trying to get social security. It takes money to diffi cult problem to solve,” he says. “I feel as escape this, but when you’re an addict, and though I’m here, but no one wants to look at life sucks, it’s easy to spend money to fuel that me, or acknowledge any of us really.” addiction when the resources aren’t available. Unfortunately, many more peo- Unfortunately, not many people ‘self-medi- ple like John exist along the margins of cate’ properly because they don’t have the ther- Waterbury. We can no longer ignore this issue, apy aspect, so they end up misusing suboxone. which has slowly converged towards the center Then people, especially people who are suppos- of the country’s political dialogue. According to edly meant to help you, believe you don’t want a 2017 survey conducted by the Federal Reserve, to get better. And that’s not true.” approximately 4 in 10 adults would have trou- “None of us want to be in pain. None of us ble paying a $400 emergency expense, mean- want to be here. I’ve overdosed about 18 times ing millions of Americans are one financial in my life, and at one point would spend $3,000 setback away from hardship—and perhaps a week to feed my girlfriend’s and my habit. She homelessness. would sell her body for that money, and God With the financial security of so many knows, getting into dangerous situations where Americans tenuously supported by a fl oor that she could easily get raped. No one should be could cave at any moment, what are the invis- Photo Courtesy of Shutterstock living like that.” ible barriers preventing some of our country’s As we endeavor to bring marginalized to prevent a level of highs experienced on drugs cover that. I have to pay about $60 for a sched- dispossessed from moving upward? Recent members of our society to the forefront, we such as heroine. uled treatment somewhere down the line, when interviews with a few Waterbury residents must understand the choice to seek help while Of the 800,000 doctors who qualify, how- I could be using that money to survive in the enduring homelessness identify a lack of men- remaining anonymous is perhaps, a result ever, only 31,000 have the waiver, and as of 2016, moment.” He continues emphatically, “But tal health services and addiction resources as of the shame and misunderstanding of the number of patients a single doctor can pro- that’s not the biggest problem. Look at me.” He growing concerns. being written off as “homeless,” rather than vide treatment to has increased from 30 to 275 pulls up a pant leg to reveal paper towels taped In the wake of the opioid crisis, some recognized as a person in pain. Some discussed under the Obama Administration. While this to his knee; carefully lifting the makeshift ban- express frustration with inaccessible care. animosity they encounter from the general increase may seem a major stepping-stone, it dage, he reveals a large, surgical cut. “A lot of “It’s incredibly difficult to get consistent public, law enforcement, and social workers. is far from a perfect solution. us out here who get high? It’s common to get treatment with so many hurdles to clear,” “People treat me like trash or like I’m so dif- “We need to reform the treatment method injured. Many of them, like me, are in pain— says another man who preferred anonymity. ferent from them. I was told I should just get somehow. Yeah, doctors can see more peo- and hiding out in factories somewhere— Doctors require waivers to prescribe subox- up and work,” said John. “And I already do. I ple, but many want us to foot a portion of the we can’t even access that help or get food.” one, an opioid consisting of buprenorphine used to go to NVCC about thirty years ago. I expenses up front. That’s money many of us A black market for suboxone is an unsur- and naxolone that binds to the brain’s opioid graduated, actually. The only thing separating don’t have, and it’s incredibly hard to be a prising consequence when treatment is inac- receptors. It mitigates withdrawal symptoms us from you is that one uncontrollable moment homeless addict trying to get social security to cessible to the poor. Many attempt to alleviate and cravings, while capping its euphoric eff ect where your life falls apart.” Howard, Cummings went on to earn his the situation...this is about the soul of our law degree at the University of Maryland, democracy.” A True Statesman becoming one of the most respected law- Cummings died October 17, 2019. In a Kathleen Chesto yers in Baltimore. Elected to the Maryland statement, his wife, Maryland Democratic House of Delegates, he was the youngest Party Chair, Maya Rockeymoore Cummings, they were among the first black children to chairman of the Legislative Black Caucus said, “Congressman Cummings was an hon- integrate the Riverside Park pool. The boys and the first African American speaker pro orable man who proudly served his district were met by a crowd of angry white residents; tem, the member presiding in the speak- and the nation with dignity, integrity, com- carrying signs reading, “Keep our pool germ er’s absence. Elected to the U.S. House of passion and humility. He worked until his free,” they pelted the children with rocks and Representatives in 1996, at his swearing in, last breath because he believed our democ- bottles. Hit in the face and scarred for life, that Cummings promised his time in Congress racy was the highest and best expression was only one indelible mark Cummings car- would be centered on “a mission and a vision of our collective humanity and that our ried from the incident. to empower people.” nation’s diversity was our promise, not our A black woman who tried to help was Cummings became well-known for his problem.” injured; even as she bled, she tried to protect ability to work with those on both sides of the On Thursday, October 24, Rep. Cummings the boys. They knew her as “Miss Mitchell”; aisle. Rep. Trey Gowdy, whose confrontations lay in state in the Capitol Rotunda, the fi rst Cummings later learned she was an attorney with Cummings often made headlines, said, African American Congressman ever to be in town: Juanita Jackson Mitchell, a legendary “It’s not about politics to him; he says what he so honored. His funeral, at Baltimore’s New civil rights lawyer. Cummings never forgot her. believes...And with Mr. Cummings, it’s com- Psalmist Baptist Church, was attended by Photo Courtesy of Flickr At that moment, only eleven, he declared he ing from his soul.” two former U.S. presidents, a large cohort of would become an attorney. Bemoaning the current political climate, powerful American leaders, and thousands Elijah Eugene Cummings was born in Cummings told Baltimore Magazine one Cummings reflected, “Those at the highest of ordinary citizens. In one of many stir- Baltimore, January 18, 1951, four years of his strongest childhood memories was levels of government must stop invoking fear, ring eulogies, President Barack Obama said before Rosa Parks refused to give up her being told “He couldn’t: couldn’t swim in that using racist language and encouraging repre- of Cummings, “Elijah became a lawyer to seat, igniting the Montgomery Bus Boycott. pool, couldn’t go to the nicer, newer white hensible behavior. As a country, we fi nally must make sure that others had rights, and his peo- As Cummings grew, attending a segregated school, couldn’t go to college, couldn’t get into say enough is enough. That we are done with ple had their God-given rights, and from the Baltimore elementary school, and listening to law school.” However, mentors believed he the hateful rhetoric.” statehouse to the House of Representatives, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s radio broadcasts could. “Doc” Freidman, owner of the local Recently, John Heilemann asked if his commitment to justice and the rights of every Sunday, he was only marginally aware pharmacy, gave him his first job, paying his Cummings had an answer to our current divi- others would never, ever waver. of the Civil Rights Movement growing in the Howard University application fee. Once sive, political climate. He responded, “The Elijah Cummings was 68 years old. His nation around him. there, Cummings received letters of encour- answers are painful...To see this as I walk integrity, sense of justice, compassion, and The summer of 1962 changed that. At agement—and an occasional $10 bill—from through the evening of my life...it makes leadership will be deeply missed. eleven years old, he went to a neighborhood the pharmacist. me want to work night and day for the rest Thanks to the Jon S.

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