Jake's Story

Hey, my name's Jake. I'm almost five years in recovery now. I grew up in Rochester, right in Penfield. And the past couple years have been the best couple years of my life in recovery.

Not being a user of heroin, I had no idea how much was a good amount, how much was a, you know, small amount. And it was brought to me in seven pills. And I broke 'em out. And I remember trying one, I thought, "This is heroin?

This isn't that great." And I said, "I'll just do all of it." And for about 10 minutes, I said, "This feels like drinking a glass of wine with a Benadryl. Nothing special."

When I woke up, I was handcuffed. (laughing) Handcuffed, and I was in a St. Louis hospital, and they had told me that I had died and that they had brought me back and I had overdosed. And it's easy to see how that translates for addicts, how we're able to try to manipulate things by being creative.

And I just lied about my drug use history. "Yep. Good. I'm all set. Cocaine? Never heard of it.

Marijuana? I've seen a couple ads for it but that's not my thing." You know, with over 17 years of experience struggling with my own addiction, here's what I would tell healthcare workers, doctors about how to respond and treat people in addiction. Well, have that conversation ready if you see somebody who's using, and take the risk of asking.

You could save someone's life by having a quiet moment where they might feel judged but there was a chance that your instinct or your medical training that you could see that there might be some kind of use going on to have an intervention or intervene in some way just by offering. Even if that means once in the beginning, once before they depart, and making sure that there's a note there too and giving them the right kinda resources. Speak plainly, but speak with heart. Anybody can tell the difference.

If you're an addict and a doctor's looking at you and someone says, "I'm concerned about the quality of your health. My job is to care for you. Help me do it. Is there anything else that we can talk about that might involve addiction?"

If I had heard those words, I think I might've opened up a little bit more.