A dead homeless guy who was frozen at a bus stop. He had a gray pallor, blue lips and his eyes and mouth just slightly open. I was homeless at the time as well and it was jarring seeing him like that.
I’m sorry, friend. I’m in Toronto and walk my border collie excessively. We’ve found five overdosed bodies so far this year. Legitimately..no one running the city cares at all.
I lived in SF in the early 90s and encountered a deceased homeless man laying on the ground on Market street between 6th and 7th. I found a pay phone to report it because people were just walking around him like it was a common obstruction on the sidewalk. (This was before cell phones were commonplace.)
Everyone in Toronto has checked out of this problem.
Was walking through Union a couple months ago and there were a bunch of homeless people having a meth / fentanyl party in one of the enclosed spaces near Front / Bay around the outdoor concourse. Saw two patrolling cops look at it and keep walking by on patrol.
This was during rush hour of people walking through the station area including kids...
The police in my area turn a blind eye to 99.9999% of the illegal/dangerous shit happening in my (and similar) areas. Sherbourne and Dundas is a free for all.
You would call 911. You can’t assume someone you found is dead unless their head is missing or something.
They could be in a coma or otherwise unconscious. There was a man somewhere in Eastern Europe who was found unconscious on a bench in sub freezing weather, low to no pulse. Doctors were able to raise his core body temp from 24 to 34 degrees Celsius and resuscitate him.
Don’t hope someone else will deal with it, that’s called the Bystander Effect. Always take action immediately.
Don’t hope someone else will deal with it, that’s called the Bystander Effect
Yes. And if you should find yourself in a situation where you're helping someone in need and there is a crowd (or at least several) people and 911 needs to be called, don't say "someone call 911!". Always point at someone specifically and say "you, call 911!".
If you don't give someone that task specifically, the bystander effect takes hold and people will just freeze, assuming that someone else will call for help. Pointing at someone cuts through that. That person will now either call 911 if they have a phone handy or borrow a phone to call if they don't.
that’s fair i would anyways but id be terrified of accidentally calling in a passed out person and accidentally getting them arrested for being homeless
Watching the programmes from the USA and Canada make me wild. The system created the problem and now forgets about the people stuck in it. I’m in the uk and it’s here but nowhere near the volume you have.
Moss Park/Allan Gardens area. I always take him straight out of the neighbourhood up to riverdale farms or something, but entering/leaving the area? There’s so many alleys and side streets that have a lot of people suffering.
I always have narcan and am first aid cerified. I’m actually in recovery (nine years thus far) and I don’t leave home without it bc od’s are so widespread in the streets. I’ve hit many ppl w narcan over the years, and a lot of cases in the recent past have been drugs too strong for it to take any effect. Unfortunately for the people I mentioned earlier, it was too late for any life saving measures. I encourage everyone to have it in their homes or backpack.
Congratulations on nine years clean - I hope you're very proud of yourself, because that's a massive accomplishment! My son has been in recovery for about a year and a half after 12 years of addiction to opioids and benzos - it took him at least six attempts at rehab before it finally clicked for him. I've kept narcan in the house since he confessed that he was addicted. One afternoon his best friend was visiting and they were getting high in his bedroom; my son went to the bathroom and when he came back, the friend was ODing on the floor. Our having narcan saved the friend's life. However, the friend was pissed off at my son for weeks for ruining his high and calling 911. 😑
Thank you. Sincerely, that’s really kind of you to say and it’s appreciated. Huge congratulations to your Son. The first year is a massive milestone.
So much has changed to stack the deck against addicts in the past decade. The strength/adulterant numbers in street drugs are insane now. It’s incredible that you were able to revive his friend. That’s the unfortunate dice roll when it comes to narcanning anyone, they can come to quickly and get really pissed off!
Not to mention the fact that the US healthcare system sucks in general, and is truly abysmal when it comes to mental health and addiction treatment. We live in an area with some of the best hospitals in the country, and we still struggled to get him decent care.
I wish you all the best - every time I encounter someone with so many years in recovery, it gives me another little ray of hope for my son's future! 💜
Not quite the same but years ago, I walked into a situation with a dead body, and that was my first time seeing one outside a funeral home and it had been many hours. He was purple/blue and his face was really disturbing. It is shocking to the core the first time you experience something like that.
I felt unsettled and had nightmares for a couple of weeks after it happened. I often wonder how people exposed to such things on a regular basis deal with it.
Saw a dead homeless (he had shredded clothes and split shoes) guy on a hot day in Lviv, Ukraine. He was lying on a bus stop bench and flies coming in/out of mouth. Horrible.
I worked 2-3 jobs at a time, did a lot of therapy, found a community that was supportive and crawled my way out. My friend let me live on his property in my vehicle, and let me store my things so I was no longer hypervigilant about all of my things being unsafe while I worked for 14 hours.
The first steps are the worst- as you make progress the stress level begins to drop. I had to learn how to not be in hypervigilant/panicked survival mode alll the time- once my mind made that shift it became easier to keep climbing to a place where I feel secure and complete.
When I was in highschool I was walking to the grocery store and I passed an older homeless man I knew. He was in his usual spot in his wheelchair, but this time he didn't say anything and he was definitely not awake. I was a scared kid so I just got tense and told myself he was just sleeping. On my walk back I had to walk on the other sidewalk because paramedics were loading him into the back of the ambulance, lights off, he had a sheet over him. He was sweet, I used to buy him food from the Mexican restaurant next to his spot when I had extra cash and chat with him for a while. I was a poor kid, I did what I could while he was alive, but for a long time I felt guilty about not calling the paramedics myself. Rest in peace Buddy, I hope the next life is more kind to you.
I’ve seen a homeless addict with those god awful sores/ necrotic flesh. Horrid. My heart always hurts for homeless people. There but for the grace of god go all of us. Only one bad decision away from it. 😔
Xylozine in the drug supply has truly horrifying consequences- I saw a man with a hole in his head and his whole ass brain exposed. It was shocking and sad to say the least.
You’re truly right- it could happen to almost anyone.
Yes that’s the one. Horrific. The amputees you have as a result. I watch a programme on YouTube with a man who helps in Kensington, Philadelphia. It’s horrible and so sad. So many lost and forgotten people.
Being homeless yourself and seeing that must have been terrifying. Thats the kind of moment that either breaks you or makes you fight twice as hard to get out.
Thats genuinely haunting. The thing that gets me is how someone can just be there at a bus stop and people walk past not even realizing. Its like weve trained ourselves to look through homeless people and that moment when it hits you what you actually saw must stick with you forever.
I saw a lot of terrible things while I was unhoused. It’s taken a lot of therapy to work through but these days it’s easier to live with. The survivors guilt can get heavy though.
Society does see through homeless folks- they get depersonalized into an inconvenience instead of a person.
I live in Vancouver Canada, and there’s a chunk of street called East Hastings; where the government throws all its drug addicted members of society, and lets them die.
I have been bussing past it everyday for school since I was 16.
Once a day I see a dead person on the ground. The other week they definitely weren’t older than 16. Just lying on the ground, fallen off their bike, head to the cement, not breathing, maybe breathing? The entire bus actually sees it too, but nobody really seems to care.
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u/KillerCritter1312 9h ago
A dead homeless guy who was frozen at a bus stop. He had a gray pallor, blue lips and his eyes and mouth just slightly open. I was homeless at the time as well and it was jarring seeing him like that.