Description of the video:
*Music Begins*
[Video: Monroe County Opioid Advisory Commission logo appears]
[The words: The following presentation is made possible by the generous support of the Bloomington Health Foundation and the Community Foundation of Bloomington and Monroe County/Regional Opportunities Initiatives, Inc. appears]
[The words: And we thank those individuals in these videos who have strength to share their stories appears on the screen.]
[The word: Terry appears on the screen]
Terry Eads sits in a chair and speaks to the camera: "My story is different, but it's the same as so many other people's."
B-roll of photos of Terry and her sons. A narrator speaks as voiceover. "One year ago, Terry took the stage at the South-Central Opioid Summit to talk about substance use disorder and how it had claimed the life of her son, Brad. Of those in the audience, one person, in particular, felt her story personally: her son, Jason, Brad’s twin brother."
Terry Eads sitting in a chair speaking to camera corresponding to voiceover: "He came up to the casket, and I said, 'I can never do this again. Please, I can never do this again.' And he said, 'I know, Mom, it's okay. You won't have to. You won't, I promise.'"
B-roll of a cemetery. The narrator speaks in voiceover: "Her presentation over, Terry left the podium."
B-roll of photos of Terry and her sons' gravestones. Terry speaks as voiceover. "He was just so incredibly proud and told me that many, many times. And then, a month later, he's gone."
B-roll of photos of Terry and her sons' gravestones. A narrator speaks as voiceover. Despite Jason’s promise to his mother, he, too, died of an overdose. Terry had now lost both of her sons."
Terry Eads speaks to the camera: "It's a club that we join that we didn't ask to join, but we’re all members of, and our dues are as high as anybody can possibly pay."
B-roll of photos of Terry Eads sons. A narrator speaks as voiceover: "Jason, too, had struggled with substance use disorder. And to his family, friends and neighbors, he was winning. He had been clean for seven years. But when he found himself slipping away, something kept him from asking for help."
Terry Eads speaks to the camera: "Stigma. Don't make it so difficult for someone to say, 'I've been clean for seven years, and I need some help.' I don’t know how you do that."
[Video: 2019 South Central Opioid Summit appears on the screen. A narrator speaks as voiceover: ] "That is why we are here today. To hear their stories. To discuss solutions. To look for answers."
Greg May, Chair, Monroe County Opioid Advisory Commission sits in a chair and speaks to the camera: "You know, the Summit really is a convening of local experts to say, 'these are the things that we’re doing in this community."
B-roll of photos from past summits. Greg May speaks as voiceover: "It’s really this collaborative learning experience about, 'yeah, we don’t know how to end this, and we don’t know how to fix it right now. But these are the things that we are doing to make this better as we go through this process.'"
Terry Eads speaks to the camera: "We have to change the mindset of those hard-core folks who feel that substance use disorder is a choice."
Arielle McGill sits in a chair and speaks to the camera: "I would just ask you if you really think that people growing up say to themselves, 'you know, when I grow up, I want to get arrested, and I want to have my kids taken from me.' Or, 'I want to steal from the people that I love and that love me. I want to hurt everybody around me.' I mean, I would ask if that’s something that you think people make the choice to be like that.'"
[The words Embracing Recovery: Ricky's Story appears on the screen]
B-roll of Ricky Love speaking on the phone. Ricky Love speaks: "Horrible is an understatement."
B-roll of Ricky Love speaking on the phone Narrator speaks in voiceover: "He called himself 'The Benevolent Dealer,' a mask Ricky hid behind for years, justifying his own drug use by convincing himself that he could protect others from their pain by providing them with drugs. It was a deception that crashed at 3 am one morning, when U.S. Marshalls came calling."
Ricky Love sits in a chair and speaks to the camera: "I answered the door. And when I did, they stuck guns to my head and said, 'we got a warrant for your arrest.' At that point, an alarm went off in my head. I said, 'man, what are you doing?'"
B-roll of Ricky Love sitting on his couch, talking on the phone, photos of his girlfriend Missy, Ricky speaking to a woman. Narrator speaks as voiceover: “Ricky took a plea and awaited prison. Out on bond before his incarceration, he attended a group therapy session at the request of his girlfriend, Missy. At the session, Missy apologized to him for all the pain her own chaotic drug use had caused them both. Her honesty transformed him. Ricky became enthusiastic about recovery. Upon returning from prison, he noticed that Martinsville had almost no recovery services. His solution was an unorthodox one. He started his own not-for-profit.”
Ricky Love sits in a chair and speaks to the camera: “I got motivated to want to start carry the message to the addict who still suffers.”
B-roll of photos of Missy. Narrator speaks in voiceover: But where Missy had helped save Ricky’s life, he could not save hers.”
Ricky Love speaks to the camera: “Well, she called me 24 hours before she overdosed, and she said, ‘Ricky, how do you do it?’ And I had to tell her on the phone, I said, ‘because I love who I am today.’”
B-roll of Ricky Love sitting on his couch, talking on the phone, photos of Ricky’s stepson. Narrator speaks as voiceover: “Ricky’s life began to improve steadily. He got married and had a family. Sadly, Ricky remains no stranger to heartbreak. For on the day before this interview was taped, Ricky lost his stepson to an overdose.”
Ricky Love speaks to the camera: “(sighs) I just pray, one day, that all the ministers in the world all the better people who think that you can just walk away from the disease of addiction get a better understanding about what the disease is all about.”
The words “The Legal System” appear on the screen. Narrator speaks as voiceover: “Part of learning how to cope with the effects of substance use disorder is learning how to navigate the legal system designed to control it.
The word “Tammy” appears on the screen. Tammy Hooten speaks as voiceover. “I was terrified. I was scared. I remember just feeling so alone and thinking, ‘what am I going to do? Like, I have nobody to help me out of the system.’”
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B-roll of photos of Tammy. Narrator speaks as voiceover. “Tammy was no stranger to the legal system. Taking prescription painkillers because she had been injured in an accident, she became hooked on them. Her chaotic drug use meant that she had to find ways to finance her need. Tammy began stealing from friends and family and shoplifting from local stores.”
Tammy Hooten sits in a chair and speaks to the camera: “And you think, the whole time, like, ‘I can fix this before they know.’ And then, before you know it, you’ve got 20 items that you’ve stolen from them, and there’s no replacing them. But you keep telling yourself that it’s going to be OK. You convince yourself; your addiction convinces you, that it’s all going to be OK, but in the end, it’s not.”
B-roll of the Monroe County Jail. Narrator speaks as voiceover: “Sitting in jail after she was arrested for running up thousands of dollars in stolen credit cards, Tammy, like Ricky before her, had her own wake-up call.”
Tammy speaks to the camera: “I went to court, and my attorney told me, he said, ‘you’re going to do your time. You’re not going home.’ And I said, ‘no, I’m want to talk to the judge because I’m going to tell her.’ He was, like, ‘it’s not going to do any good because she’s sick of hearing what you have to say, ‘cause it’s just, you know, you tell her thing, you don’t do it.’ And I said, ‘if you’re tired, imagine how tired I am.’”
B-roll of Tammy outside. Narrator speaks in voiceover: “But Tammy caught a break, when a sympathetic judge mixed the rules with compassion.”
Tammy speaks to the camera: “She said, ‘it’s against my better judgment. You guys are going to think I’m crazy, but I’m going to give her one more chance. And I ran with that chance.”
B-roll of houses. Greg May speaks in voiceover: “There are other communities who believe that they can arrest their way out of substance use issues. If we’ve done nothing to help address the issue that led them to have that law enforcement encounter”
Greg speaks to the camera: “that led them to that period of incarceration . . . they’re returning to this community, and they will go back to the same place that they were.”
Tammy Hooten speaks to the camera: “You can’t change things overnight, especially whenever you’ve been digging yourself into a hole for many years. You have to have time to un-dig yourself.”
The words “Finding a Job” appear on the screen. Narrator speaks in voiceover. “Navigating the legal system is one thing. Finding a job is another. “
The word “Arielle” appears on the screen. B-roll of Arielle walking down the street and working at a computer. Narrator speaks in voiceover. “Growing up in Florida, Arielle admits that connecting with others had always been difficult and that she found her escape from depression by using drugs. That escape led her to many encounters with the law, each one more serious than the one before it, until she faced a sentence of 15 years in prison. But that didn’t happen, and she began the long road to recovery. It was time to pick up the pieces. But how?”
Arielle McGill sits in a chair and speaks to the camera. “How do you move forward when every step you take, essentially, there’s this big, kind of, elephant in the room?”
Arielle types on the computer. Narrator speaks as voiceover: “Her job search had become an endless series of background checks, unreturned calls and discarded resumes. Then she got a call from a city nearly a thousand miles away: Bloomington, Indiana.”
B-roll of Arielle at a computer. Arielle speaks in voiceover: “And I just told them, like, I had made a lot of bad decisions. I’ve cleaned up my act, and I’ve done my time essentially. I’ve completely changed my life. They were just, like, ‘you know, we appreciate you being open with us, …
Arielle speaks to the camera: “and we think that, you know, you’re an honest person, and you have integrity, and we need people like you to work here.’ And it was just, like, WOW! You know . . . like, no one had ever talked to me that way.”
The words “Turning the Tide” appear on the screen. Tammy Hooten speaks in voiceover: “I think that our community is in a better place now. A lot of people are coming together and realizing, like, ‘let’s work with people.
Tammy speaks to the camera: Let’s try to help them get jobs. Let’s try to help them get homes. Let’s help build their lives!”
Greg May speaks to the camera: “The tide is turning, so the number of overdose deaths are decreasing. People appear to have more access to treatment or at least know what treatment options are available. And folks with substance use disorders appear to be having an easier time gaining employment.”
B-roll of photos of Indiana Governor Eric Holcomb, words appear on screen. Narrator speaks in voiceover: August 14th of this year, Jim Carroll, the head of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy, visited Indiana to talk with state leaders about the opioid crisis. Carol highlighted that Indiana saw a 12% decline in drug overdose deaths. That’s almost three times the national decline of 4.2%. Several factors can be attributed to the decline, including access to naloxone and other medications designed to reverse opioid overdose, reduced number of prescriptions, better coordination with doctors, and, of course, more access to treatment.”
Greg May speaks to the camera: “I think that we’ve made great strides, and we keep adding partners to coalitions, to advisory groups, that really just help us advance the work that we do. Now, is it perfect every time and are we meeting the need of every person? Absolutely not. Do I think that we will ever be able to do that? I hope so.”
B-roll of Indianapolis. Narrator speaks in voiceover: “There is still much work to be done in ending the epidemic of substance use disorder and the life-threatening consequences that go with it. Work that will involve everyone in this room. There will be successes. And there will be setbacks. But the epidemic will end because, when a community works as one, there is always hope.”
Arielle McGill speaks to the camera: “Without support and without resources, I would be in prison right now. But I’m not, and I’m a functioning member of society.”
Terry Eads speaks to the camera: “Love them. Help them. Let them know that they are worth saving. And that, no matter how many times they fall, if they get back up, you’ll be there.”
Ricky Love speaks to the camera: “Let them know that I feel their pain of what they’re going through and they’re not alone.”
Tammy Hooten speaks to the camera: “I’m proof that you get chances. Like, I wasn’t anybody, you know what I’m saying? A drug addict with a really bad record and a lot of shots at getting sober and wouldn’t do it. But you know what? People gave me a chance, and I changed my life.”
The words Let’s Continue The Fight appear on the screen.
The “Working As 1”: The Year of Integration appears on the screen.
*Music Ends*
