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REGULAR MEETING February 25, 2019
<br /> issue. I don't have statistics in front of me but, from my personal experience in the VA community,
<br /> this is a very needed facility in the area. Thank you.
<br /> Pat McGann, 2313 East Edison Road, South Bend, IN, stated, I did not come here to speak on or
<br /> against this action tonight. I came for a totally different reason,but I've been listening to everything
<br /> people have said. When I was fifteen (15) years old, my brothers and I started an ambulance
<br /> service. I worked all through high school up until the age of about thirty-one (31). I was among
<br /> some of the first(1st)licensed paramedics in the State of Indiana. Our license number was one(1).
<br /> In all of that time, after we became paramedics and could dispense drugs, I never once, never,
<br /> dispensed Narcan. That was an anti-narcotic drug we carried on the ambulance. I'm also, now, in
<br /> the funeral business. I own and operate four(4) funeral homes within the City of South Bend. We
<br /> have the oldest funeral home in the State of Indiana and the oldest business, of any kind, in the
<br /> South Bend area. Last year, we probably had six (6) opioid deaths. I remember a situation where
<br /> a man and woman,boyfriend and girlfriend,lived in a high-rise apartment in Chicago overlooking
<br /> Lake Shore Drive and Lake Michigan. This fella was a rising star in his family's business in
<br /> Elkhart. It was a large manufacturing business. He was the heir apparent to take over the company.
<br /> Very wealthy family. They came home after work on a Friday, were not seen again until Monday.
<br /> Both of their companies went to check on them and they both still had the needles in their arms of
<br /> a fentanyl and heroin overdose.Another situation we had was a young woman in her twenties(20s)
<br /> or thirties (30s) was living with her dad. She had this problem. She was living with her dad and
<br /> her young child and her young child came into the room and found her mom with the needle still
<br /> in her arm. The child was like an eight (8) year old girl. Then, most recently, we had a man who
<br /> was brought home on Christmas by his mother. He had been down in Florida for rehab for two (2)
<br /> years. He had been in and out of it and was in it and doing very well. He came home and arrived
<br /> on Christmas Eve, his mother found him dead in her bedroom Christmas morning. So, that's all I
<br /> wanted to say.
<br /> Donald Weiss, 532 %2 Kosciuszko Street, South Bend, IN,stated, I am also a veteran. I served three
<br /> (3) years in the US Army as a Military Policeman. Due to a financially difficult situation, I became
<br /> homeless at the Miller Vet Center back in 2010. Recently, for the last six (6) years, I've been
<br /> residing in my house on Kosciuszko Street. I'm currently, also, in the Miller Vets Color Guard
<br /> Unit. We go around and do ceremonies for veterans. In our color guard unit, we had two (2)
<br /> veterans that had major alcohol and opiate problems. They went to the Life Treatment Center and
<br /> they did not get any assistance. I tried to take them in there to get rehab and detoxed and they
<br /> turned around and walked out. They refuse the treatment. They chose to be on the streets and
<br /> homeless. In other words, they did not want any assistance. So, I finally persuaded them to come
<br /> to my home. I was going to give them a safe haven to stay off of drugs and alcohol because I did
<br /> not tolerate it in my home. I attempted to try and help them be sober, keep them active in our
<br /> community and color guard unit, and they refused to get my assistance. They refused to cooperate
<br /> with me. It's an ongoing battle situation. When people make a choice in their life that they don't
<br /> want any assistance, there is nothing you can do about it. There are a lot of homeless people out
<br /> here on the streets in the City of South Bend that need assistance. They either have a drug or
<br /> alcohol problem or whatever. I'm for Choices. That sounds like a very good program to get them
<br /> back on their feet again to have some sort of a structured lifestyle. I'm for it one hundred percent
<br /> (100%). Recently, that one (1) veteran I tried to assist, he died of alcohol poisoning at the former
<br /> hotel called the Wooden Indian. He was found dead of alcohol poisoning, because he couldn't get
<br /> his hands on liquor,he drank mouth wash to get drunk. It is devastating to witness this, especially
<br /> when you feel there was something else you could have done or said. It hurts when a fellow
<br /> comrade leaves us because he is so sick. Choices Recovery is the best thing this community needs
<br /> right now and I'm for it one hundred percent (100%). Thank you.
<br /> Kelly Williams, 3008 Trenton Court, Mishawaka, IN, stated, My story, as a recovering addict, I
<br /> am from California and I graduated a five (5) year apprenticeship where I got my Bachelor's in
<br /> Science and Mechanical Engineering. The whole time I was going through school, I was an addict.
<br /> I was in my addiction. I had been through treatment several times and returned home to the same
<br /> environment and kept relapsing. I didn't understand it, so, I attempted to take my own life twice.
<br /> This last time through treatment, I didn't end up going home. I stayed here and now work at
<br /> Choices Recovery and that is why I am alive today. They helped me see that going home was not
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