By Stanley Hurwitz

A South Shore mother stresses about her 30-year-old daughter with long-time mental illness and drug addiction issues who’s been living on Boston streets for two years.

The numbers are alarming. She is one of some 6,200 homeless in the city on any given day. According to a 2019 city census, up to 25,000 individuals are on the streets for some period of time each year. 38 of every 100 people are in active addiction. Also unsettling: Over 2,000 Mass. residents and about 67,000 Americans died of overdoses in 2019. That’s more than 175 people each day.

This addiction/homeless lifestyle is dangerous and worrisome for family members who don’t know where to turn or direct their loved ones for quality help. And with the arrival of the COVID-19 virus pandemic, health threats to these most vulnerable groups are multiplied exponentially. These individuals are particularly at risk of contracting coronavirus and other diseases because of underlying health conditions, compromised immune systems, unsanitary surroundings, and poor hygiene.

Experts agree that a drug-dependent body with a weakened immune system is more likely to contract disease including COVID-19. For persons addicted to drugs or alcohol, treatment for addiction may be one effective way to avoiding coronavirus.

Traditional safety nets for the homeless/addicted are stretched even thinner now because, to avoid spread of the contagion, counseling must be done by phone, and most of these people don’t have phones. Also, crucial support meetings are cancelled, and, although online help is available, most in this demographic simply don’t have computer access. Another complication is reduced public transit schedules.

The homeless woman’s mother says that physical and mental health workers’ overwhelming caseloads plus their attempt to avoid virus spread leads to reduced contact. She says, “You might think family and friends would want to take their loved ones off the streets, but – even if they could track them down – it’s complicated, saddening and many just don’t want to get involved. There’s a ripple effect. Many lives are ruined. I’m sure my daughter is not getting her meds for schizophrenia and anxiety, nor is she receiving proper counseling. On the streets, half-hearted rehab counseling by some case workers is referred to as “Wash & Dry.” Multiply this by tens of thousands on the streets across the country.

According to RehabCenter.net, “Drug and alcohol abuse and addiction are risk factors for homelessness. Addiction is one of the most frequently cited reasons for an individual becoming homeless. During treatment, an individual needs to be supported in ways which allow them to regain the highest measure of self-sufficiency, through housing, employment, medical care, and access to peer support networks. Treatment also builds coping, relapse prevention, interpersonal, and stress reduction skills to further stabilize a person’s health and life.”

The director of Boston’s Father Mychal Judge Recovery Center, Anthony Andreottola, recently said, “Things are so much more challenging now because people have to change the way they receive help. People are nervous. They feel isolated. If you live on the streets, you can’t ‘stay home.’ You can’t ‘wash your hands’ if you don’t have a sink.” The Center runs a substance abuse counseling and retreat program at St. Anthony Shrine in Boston.

According to Kimberly Weis, a Recovery Peer Advocate building a faith-based residential recovery center in southern Missouri, “Evidence shows that in order for a client to find recovery, to make their way out of addiction, they need to be connected to not only their community, but their recovery community and support system. Once they return home, reconnected, they no longer feel the need to use drugs to deal with their isolation. The coronavirus has essentially closed or cancelled nearly all in-person NA, AA, and community recovery groups. Many inpatient facilities are no longer accepting clients because of the threat of a person bringing the virus into a center.”

Kimberly knows this topic first-hand: She’s a recovering addict, wife, mother, abuse survivor and recovery advocate who struggled with addiction for 10 years. She adds, “Now, paying it forward, I’m working to help ensure that no one else ever has to feel the pain and loneliness that I felt when hitting my rock bottom.”

One innovative program designed to stop addiction before it starts was founded by John and Stephanie Greene who lost their 19-year-old son Evan to an opiate overdose five years ago. They launched the Evan G. Foundation (http://evangfoundation.org/), a Mass.-based 501 (c) (3) non-profit, one of the state’s few grassroots community-based drug education and prevention organizations.

Their unique “No First Time” awareness/outreach program has brought their own story to over 75 schools and groups and some 6,000 teens, young adults, parents and educators. The program includes their story, remarks by a person in recovery and warnings from a State Police substance abuse expert with a PowerPoint presentation. John says, “Our goal is to tell our story to as many people as possible to ensure that no one’s kid has any reason to try any drug for the first time.” Unfortunately, their outreach schedule due to COVID-19 has been decimated.

“Overcoming addiction could make the difference between life and death. It’s all tied together,” John says. “Addiction always involves a downward trajectory that easily leads to homelessness. That’s why we must instill in young people the dangers of never taking that one first pill.”

How you can help:

The Boston Mayor’s Office of Recovery Services supports substance use disorder and addiction recovery strategies: https://www.boston.gov/departments/recovery-services

Friends of Boston’s Homeless: https://www.fobh.org/what-we-support/housing-first/

Mass. Bureau of Substance Addiction Services: https://www.mass.gov/orgs/bureau-of-substance-addiction-services

For information on the Evan G. Foundation / “No First Time”: http://evangfoundation.org/. John Greene: (781) 844-1258.

To schedule a presentation for a school, organization, community program in the coming year, email nofirsttime@gmail.com.