1985, and the first time in my life that I remember having to look death and disease in the face on a frequent basis. I had just begun my journey in the field of Substance Abuse, working, as I have told you before, with the men of The Salvation Army Adult Rehabilitation Centers (ARC).

We were beginning to see many men testing positive for exposure to Tuberculosis and several of them diagnosed with the actual disease. By that time, Amelia a wonderful nurse was on my staff. It was then that I developed a program at the center with the Harris County Health Department to begin T.B. testing every man upon admission to the Center. Amelia administered the tests early in the week, and I would read the tests and report the results to the Health Department each Friday. Many men tested positive, were prescribed T.B. medication and then followed by the Health Department; one or two were hospitalized with T.B. This not only benefitted the men, the staff and residents of the ARC but many of the men’s families and general public as well. As anyone who had been in contact with them were also notified and tested.

Sadly to say, at the same time, we were also beginning to see men who tested positive for HIV and some even having Aids. Several men died of Aids while residents of the center; while others were struggling on the heavy duty drug regime that they were prescribed. 1985 was early in the AIDS epidemic and I knew little about it and it was needless to say, very frightening.

One such man, we’ll call him Glen came to the center seeking assistance. He was not very well coming in as he had been stabbed several times in the chest, while living in the streets. Daily, he would come to my office and I would remove the soiled bandages, clean his wounds and put on clean bandages.

One afternoon about a week after he had been admitted to the ARC, I found Glen sitting in the recreation room, hitting his head against the wall. He told me that he had an extremely bad headache. Daily, I had been asking him to go back to the hospital and be looked at by a doctor, but he would always refuse. Going back to my office I called the Administrator, Major Winters and told him what I had seen and that Glen was refusing to be seen at Ben Taub. Major said he was sending a van around and that if Glen wanted to remain in the center he needed to be seen by a doctor.

Glen agreed to go and signed out with the van driver. Several hours later, after evening chapel service, I was in my office and the front desk patched a call into me. It was the doctor from Ben Taub, who had seen Glen. The doctor explained to me that Glen would not be coming back and that he had just returned to the hospital from the airport. He told me that Glen was dying of Aids and that he had purchased him a one-way airline ticket to get back to California, to be with his family. I will always be grateful for the doctor that cared enough!

After hanging up the phone, I sat for a few minutes, stunned, just staring at my hands. I called Gene in his office, telling him what the doctor had told me and that I was scared because I had been changing the stab wound dressings without gloves. His response was “don’t worry Osa, God takes care of old drunks and silly counselors”; with that said, he hung up. Gene was right God truly does care for us, even in our foolishness.

Has there been a time in your life when you did something (without forethought) for another person that may have put you in jeopardy? If so, please tell us about it.