Starting up again... 3rd year begins

3rd year of med school has begun for me with my Family Medicine clerkship. I thought it would be a nice relaxing start to the year and allow me to enjoy the summer while I still can. So far, this has worked out as planned. More on that another time.

As part of family med, we have to take part in a community activity. Mine is going to Damon House in New Brunswick. This place is like a step above a halfway house for substance abusers. They're either there as part of sentencing/probation or because their family sent them/has kicked them out. There's only 2 women there right now so it kind of felt like a weird frat house. 

What initially surprised me was that, on the whole, they all seemed to be willing participants in the day's activities. I imagined it to be a bunch of guys who think they're too cool for school with all the associated eye-rolling and bored looks. But they shared freely about their pasts and their feelings. I got a chance to chat with some of the guys who've been there longer and they were very nice. One dude totally looks like Bruce Willis. 

All the "clients" run the place, including the front desk- I had no idea the guy I was chatting with when I walked in was actually in the program. Not sure what my preconceptions actually were about drug abusers before I got there, but now I see the diversity of people who abuse drugs. Some of them may look "stereotypical", but there were guys younger than me who've been using for years, older men, and guys who look a little nerdy. I have more ink on me than many of them!

I was pretty moved by what some of them shared:

-One man sad he was feeling bad this morning because he was missing his daughter blow out her birthday candles. In response, one of the other guys encouraged him, saying that he was getting treatment here so he can be with her for many more birthdays. 

-A guy who looks to be my age or younger said that he woke up this morning thinking that he can't remember the faces of his family, or what his house looks like. Just so sad. This one seemed like a fun guy. He later told us to help ourselves to coffee, saying "we can't have coffee. we're drug addicts- we'll drink the whole pot!" 

I'm actually looking forward to going back. It's refreshing to be able to talk to people who are so honest and can share experiences that are so greatly different than mine.