Courtney Luciana photo
Libby Makela Johnson’s 22-year old daughter, Maija, died from a fentanyl overdose last September. Saturday, she showed up in her daughter’s honor to grab a Narcan kit and learn how to use it .
“I woke up with her dead beside me. It was very traumatic,” Johnson recalled. “If I had Narcan at the time maybe I could have saved her. I figured I have two choices‑I can curl up in a ball and grieve, or I could try and make a difference. Now maybe I can possibly save someone else.”
Johnson received the training Saturday at an event held by by the Sex Workers and Allies Network (SWAN) outside the Stetson Branch Library in Dixwell, where the group parked a new mobile outreach van.
SWAN members handed out Narcan kits, provided training, and let the community know that they are now mobile and able to provide additional harm reduction supplies.
SWAN started in 2016 in response to threats faced by sex workers on the streets. The group received a grant in July to fund an outreach program, including the van, to travel across New Haven neighborhoods and possibly soon to other cities.
Jennifer Castellone, outreach manager and primary driver of the van, was homeless when she originally met SWAN founder Beatrice Codianni. Castellone attended the trauma group meetings for women that assisted in her recovery. The van is shelved with an abundance of clean syringes, both the muscle injection and nasal spray Narcan, cooker containers to mix and heat drugs, fentanyl strips, clean crack pipes, condoms, and clothes.
“Since we’re not used to handing out so many supplies, we now take the van to our supplier, Greater Hartford Harm Reduction Coalition, to stock back up,” Castellone said. “We can get to more places now, we can drive to people now where they’re at whether they need supplies or call us about an overdose.”
The SWAN van has traveled Monday through Saturday to hot spots including the New Haven Green, the APT Foundation on Congress Avenue, and Whalley Avenue. Castellone said the hot spots for overdoses are Ferry Street and Grand Avenue in Fair Haven.
“I’ve responded to seven overdoses myself. The one that sticks out to me the most is after we saved one lady on Congress Avenue,” Castellone said. “A couple hours later, there was another lady that overdosed and passed away in the same area. I heard about that, and I was upset because we were just there. That’s why I want to make sure to get the Narcan to everybody.”
Jason Crowell , the other chief driver of the van and a recovered opiate user, now works at Cornell Scott Hill Health Center and the APT Foundation. He has teamed up with SWAN for substance abuse counseling and outreach for harm reduction. He said another benefit of the van is being able to carry out a needle exchange program.
One Saturday morning alone, when stipends were exchanged for used syringes as part of the program, approximately 2,000 syringes were collected from Congress Avenue.
“It’s overlooked that people are going to continue to use and to be able to reduce the harm is important. There’s got to be facilities and organizations to help keep them safe,” Crowell said. “We have a trustful bond with those who call on us because we don’t judge them for what’s going on in their lives and we remind them about the Good Samaritan Law that protects them from being arrested for calling about an overdose. That way they’re more apt to call us and say, ‘Hey someone’s over here falling out.’”
As part of the grant agreement, SWAN makes sure needles are safely collected from the street, and the used syringes are collected and transported to the Greater Hartford Harm Reduction Alliance or the Public Health Department to record the numbers.
Marcos Alexander, a Quinnipiac student, has helped SWAN out for the past two weeks.
“I was really inspired by what Beatrice and the team has accomplished,” Alexander said. “With Covid-19, people have access to less health care services due to the shutdown or restrictions. That’s another benefit of having the van.”
SWAN team.
According to SWAN, close to 72,000 Americans died from drug overdoses in 2019, a new peak. Connecticut experienced its own record of overdose deaths in 2019, losing 1,200 lives, a 20 percent increase from the year before.
Sandy Lomonico shows inside of the SWAN van.
Outreach Director Sandy Lomonico has a background of cold turkey substance abuse recovery, homelessness and incarceration. Shet also received an education in public health at UConn.
“We use the language of SWAN members because we don’t want to out anybody. We don’t say ‘clients,’ ‘participants,’ or ‘staff.’ You could have somebody who is actively using be a part of outreach or a volunteer. Everybody is considered a SWAN member,” Lomonico said. “Right now, we’re working on a six-month stipend leadership program that will possibly launch by January that will provide as focus groups for all SWAN members.”
Crowell testing for fentanyl.
Christine, who wished to not to include her last name, is an active drug user working for SWAN. Together with Crowell, she demonstrated how the fentanyl strips provided by the SWAN van saved her life after she checked her personal supply of heroin that resulted positive. The results didn’t show up as vividly on the third demonstration.
Positive fentanyl results.
“Usually, the results show up just like a pregnancy test with a bright pink hue,” Crowell said. “One line means yes, and two means no.”
“It really just takes a drop of water. It’s not taking your heroin away,” Christine said. “When it came out positive, the result popped up like fireworks. This is the stuff that I buy everyday, so this is the stuff that’s going around out here.”
To learn more about SWAN, visit this website.
Thank you to everyone doing their best to keep people alive while they struggle with addiction. Hopefully someday soon we can find a cure for addiction that will help people not crave substances anymore, and mental healthcare and addiction services should be available to anyone who needs it.