‘A daily game of Russian roulette’: homeless people in San Diego

“I’m fine, but you must be freezing cold,” she said, draping a blanket over his shoulders. “It’s been raining for days.”

He raised his shoulders. “My teeth chatter like piano keys, but we’ve been through worse,” he said.

Abdul had come to rely on their weekly visits as his only semblance of stability at a time when street life in San Diego had become what he called “a daily game of Russian roulette.” His longtime partner, Phasia McKee, had died in November at the age of 46 from a suspected fentanyl overdose. Three of his friends had been run over and killed in their tents by a drunk driver who swerved onto the sidewalk. In the past year, Abdul had revived six people after overdosing on fentanyl by administering CPR and the nasal spray naloxone. He had also overdosed himself five times, including once a few days earlier when he collapsed on the sidewalk, slashed his forehead, suffered a mild stroke, and spent 36 hours in the emergency room before being released back onto the streets .

“How is your recovery going?” Laine asked.

“I’ve got my miracle cure,” he said, holding up a small container of olive oil, pouring it onto his hands and massaging it into his skin.

“What about your meds?”

“They’re lost, stolen, or lying around here somewhere,” he said as he began to search a shopping cart, a suitcase, and two plastic bins containing all his belongings. Laine knelt beside him to check his vitals. He had a mild fever and his blood pressure was dangerously high. She gave him aspirin and pulled out her computer to add another line to his medical chart, which told the story of a life outside: chronic fatigue, malnutrition, alcoholism, blurred vision, schizoaffective disorder, depression, anxiety, paranoia.

Over the past few weeks, Laine had become increasingly concerned about Abdul’s health, beyond her days at the nonprofit Healthcare in Action and her evenings, until she would sometimes pick up her son from daycare and drive 45 minutes back to San Diego to get a . to make an appointment. sure Abdul was still there. The average age at which homeless people died in San Diego was less than 50, and Abdul was about to turn 64.