Episode Transcript
[00:00:02] Speaker A: I'm Alex Stone, former military service member and law enforcement officer, now CEO of Echelon Protected Services, one of the fastest growing private security firms on the west coast. And this is ride along, where our guest and I witness firsthand the issues affecting our community.
I believe our proven method of enacting meaningful change through compassion and understanding is the best way to make our streets a safer place and truly achieve security through the community.
[00:00:53] Speaker B: Hi, my name is Tiffany Hammer, and I'm an advocate here in Portland, Oregon. And I spend most of my time making real connections for our folks on the street. I'm here today to do a ride along and show you what we do behind the scenes.
[00:01:06] Speaker A: Hey, I'm Alex Stone. This is the ride along. Today's guest is Tiffany Hammer, formerly a registered nurse about to get her certification back. She's currently a consultant for loving one another, which is our nonprofit that kind of works with us on the streets. She's really the nervous system behind everything we do, and she is literally the cherry on top. She makes everything successful for us on the streets. Tiffany, kind of explain who you are. Give us a little bit about yourself.
[00:01:35] Speaker B: Great. Thanks, Alex. Thanks for having me. As he mentioned, my name is Tiffany Hammer, and I've been in Portland a little over 23 years. I'm an oregonian native, and I came to Portland for my bachelor's in science in nursing here at the Good Samaritan Hospital in northwest. And I've never left. And this is.
[00:01:56] Speaker A: You fell in love with Portland.
[00:01:57] Speaker B: I did. The old Portland. Yes, the old Portland. And I'm also committed to the new Portland as well. But for today, yes, I am in the process of reinstating my nursing license with the state of Oregon, and I'm almost there this month.
My specialty was trauma nursing, and my subspecialty was community health nursing. And back in my heyday, I taught mental health nursing at our nearby hospitals as well as unity. And so one of the things that.
[00:02:30] Speaker A: And what is unity?
[00:02:31] Speaker B: Unity is behavioral health.
It's a hospital here in Portland. And it's actually, we used to, back in the day, have Portland, Oregon State Hospital. And that's where I also taught mental health nursing as well. As we all see in our crisis right now, Oregon is struggling with mental health beds. It starts at the state level, like Salem for the Oregon State Hospital, as well as Portland, which it had posh. And then we went through this whole transition after I was teaching to downsize, and posh essentially went away and is now unity. And unity has been struggling for beds.
[00:03:08] Speaker A: In fact, in Oregon, I think we're 48th out of 50 for total hospital beds per capita in the nation.
[00:03:16] Speaker B: I don't know what the current figures are, but you're right, we're struggling, and it's really hard for Oregon because we, we have the largest amount of crisis in terms of mental health and drug use, addiction, and we're the 48th to dead last for services. So we need to do something different. And then you probably saw recently, too, I think there was a lawsuit with the state of Oregon on the emergency room beds and then inability to provide that care out on the street. And so we're actually seeing the fallout of that as we speak, on the street.
[00:03:50] Speaker A: So with a background in nursing, specifically trauma nursing, I'm assuming you spent a lot of time in the ER.
[00:03:58] Speaker B: My senior practicum was the ER and also trauma surgery.
[00:04:02] Speaker A: So you're seeing a lot of violent type of injuries, right?
[00:04:07] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:04:07] Speaker A: You're experiencing a lot of mental health issues because obviously that's where people end up taking. Have you ever experienced a police officer dropping somebody off on a police officer hold.
[00:04:17] Speaker B: I done gunshot wounds on cases and I've seen families that were struggling. Yeah. With the violence on the streets. I've also seen a drug crisis where patients come in because they've been so in, like a drug induced inebriate. Yeah. And they've accidentally hurt themselves in the community setting because they were unable to, they were so inebriated, they weren't able to look out for their self interest and they harmed themselves or they were harmed to someone else, and they were brought to the hospital for that reason.
[00:04:49] Speaker A: So police officer recognized they were a threat. And under their criminal mandate, they have the ability to conduct a police officer hold.
[00:04:59] Speaker B: Correct. We used to do a lot more of those, which we don't see as much anymore. And that's what we see also, as well as the fallout in Portland on our streets, as many people are suffering. And we need to do a 72 hours hold. We need to be able to transfer them safely off the street when they're harmed to themselves or society. And we're seeing that everywhere now. And that's a breakdown, too.
[00:05:20] Speaker A: Very prevalent.
[00:05:21] Speaker B: Yeah. Yeah. It's unfortunate, actually. It's really for me as a nurse to see that breakdown. I look around and I look at Portland through a different lens, like a health disparity, a public health crisis, human suffering. And it really breaks my heart that our policies are so we're just not there.
[00:05:40] Speaker A: Yeah, we're not. And I like to, when I go out and when we do our nonprofit work, which you're part of. Cause you're a consultant. Right. Working behind the scenes, helping us get those beds. Right.
What we call it is an urban refugee crisis. Right?
[00:05:55] Speaker B: Yep.
[00:05:56] Speaker A: And in that situation, it's not really fair to treat people like they need to figure their entire life out, figure out the directions, you know, everything they need to do, and then they need to go seek help. They need to go find the hospital and seek help. We really need to be out on the streets.
[00:06:13] Speaker B: Right.
I have to say, I'm passionate. This is one of my nursing things. This is what brought me back to getting my nursing license reinstated is because of this public health crisis we see out there. I feel Portland could get back on track. If we see this as a health crisis and get people connected to the proper services, we have to build it from the ground, this actual street back upwards. And it needs a nursing mindset, honestly. And so when I look at it, I see what systems are broken, and I know how to jump in. And so by September, hopefully have my nursing license, and I'll be fully out there full time. But in the interim, what I've been doing in volunteering my services is every time we intercept someone that is on the street exhibiting behaviors where they need a helping hand up or they're in an area that they might not should be in, I look at each person individually with what needs they have and ask them the right questions humanely and with respect, but also recognizing, I think with my eyes, I'm able to see when someone's in a sub acute situation that needs to be connected to services. We don't just leave someone there. And I think that's one of our strong suits, is right now, Portland is so sensitized, they will drive past someone in crisis and do nothing about it.
[00:07:35] Speaker A: Walk right over someone.
[00:07:36] Speaker B: Right over it. Yeah. And we a part of our team. We don't do that. I don't do that. And that is why I am a consultant. And I see someone, and I make sure they get connected, and I make sure anyone I'm supporting through Pacific echelon or Loa understands that that person absolutely needs to be connected. Because if we don't, then they're just going to walk down the block and become a harm to someone else in society or to themselves. And I understand, too, the bigger services that have failed our community, and so we can make those connections. And I think that one of my strong suits is resource connecting and fundraising as well.
Takes money to fill in this need. And what the real need is. Is transportation. When you see someone, you absolutely have to get them transported to the service they need immediately, absolutely necessary.
[00:08:33] Speaker A: And when someone needs help, they need help. Right then.
[00:08:36] Speaker B: Right then and there. Yeah. And so I think Portland in general, not just the state of Oregon, but Portland in general, has failed our community because they didn't. They are ill equipped with the transportation piece.
[00:08:49] Speaker A: Well, no, it's not just Portland. It's not just Portland. It's the county.
[00:08:54] Speaker B: Correct.
[00:08:54] Speaker A: Because the county is essentially responsible for the majority of mental health.
And that's usually. That's a very standard model everywhere.
[00:09:03] Speaker B: Actually, it's the city as well, too. Cause it's your police officer typically on your front lines, who's gonna intercept someone in a. In a mental health or a drug abuse crisis.
[00:09:11] Speaker A: Well, now it's police officer.
[00:09:13] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:09:14] Speaker A: And that's a problem, though.
[00:09:15] Speaker B: Yeah, it shouldn't be. I've seen them do a better job. They've really, really came a long way with lawsuits and education de escalation training, and they're pretty much hands off now. And that is what we see in our society, is the public is now stepping in to offset what typically our officers used to do. And that is, hey, person, you might need some help. You look like you're in crisis. Let me make a phone call or something. Or you don't even get that ability. And they. And they just strike out because they've got. They've built themselves up so much that they're actually a threat now. And so we need to. Our community needs to see the warning signs, and we need to make the calls. We need the connective services. But right now, we're just out there.
[00:09:54] Speaker A: Yeah. There's a complete disconnect between the individual who's suffering on the street.
They're being. They're being ready at a certain time and date, 100%. I want to change. I'm ready to change. And then getting them into an actual service.
[00:10:13] Speaker B: Correct.
[00:10:13] Speaker A: That that disconnect is, I mean, it's like 85, 90% of the time. It's almost impossible to get that individual into services.
[00:10:24] Speaker B: I don't know numbers, but I know it's a challenge, and I like a challenge. And you know that about me. I don't take no for an answer, and I always get. I will go the extra mile to make sure people can get connected because I have a moral compass, and I think that's the nurse in me that is absolutely got to get that person connected. That person needs help. Can't just leave them there.
But back to Alex's teams, Pacific Echelon and Loa. I think they serve such a great purpose right now and in this time and place because of our services are so broken. But just to back up a little bit, Portland used to do a good job with people who were compromised in our community settings. Like, they had Hooper detox, where we still have Hooper detox, but they had a van.
[00:11:12] Speaker A: It didn't go away for a little bit.
[00:11:14] Speaker B: Yeah, they had a van. And what happened was if you were exhibiting certain behaviors in the public where you were unable to help yourself, the van would pick you up. Right. You were inebriated and whatever, and they would take you to Hooper detox, help you sleep.
[00:11:26] Speaker A: I never knew they had a van. Yeah, when I was in law enforcement, I took people to hooper all the time.
[00:11:31] Speaker B: I know this van. I've been in old town a long, long time, and I knew this van. And this is actually a system that worked back in the day. Hooper detox van. The van would come up, pick up some.
That's what it should do you to drunk tank. And then during COVID that van went away.
And I actually said, I would make phone calls and say, we gotta get this van back. And you know what? This van also started doing not just alcohol, but it started doing meth and drug overdoses. And they felt it was over their skis a little bit. And I totally agree with them because the drug crisis is super dangerous.
[00:12:07] Speaker A: Well, and this really began with measure 110.
[00:12:09] Speaker B: Yeah, it all started during COVID and measure 110.
[00:12:12] Speaker A: So measure 110 was a measure here in Oregon. It was voted on by the people. So it was. It kind of bypassed the legislature. It was a majority vote. But that's what measures are here in Oregon. And then it essentially becomes law. And then the legislature and the governor kind of have to kind of figure out a way to make it turn it into code to codify that into law. And so measure 110 effectively decriminalized the personal possession of narcotics. Right. And so with this, at what point are you allowed to legally then provide care to people who have the right to essentially use narcotics that can kill them. Right.
[00:12:55] Speaker B: It's crazy.
[00:12:56] Speaker A: And on top of that, so in law enforcement, we have programs. You know, kind of the slang for these programs are the golden handcuffs programs. And this is where law enforcement and the criminal justice system, along with judges and also the prosecution, even the defense attorneys, they'll take an individual who was arrested, possibly on some matine. Usually they're not person crimes. They could be. They could be property crimes and or drug crimes. And rather than getting prosecuted, doing jail time or possible prison, they would go into one of these golden handcuff programs that would allow them to get off of drugs. Right. A detox program.
[00:13:34] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:13:35] Speaker A: And then usually it involved a little bit of community service. Right. Like these programs have essentially gone away.
[00:13:40] Speaker B: Yeah. Actually, the Golden west is one of the programs, and I must, I'm a super supporter of these programs because they work.
[00:13:48] Speaker A: They actually have some of the highest effective rates when, and this is nationwide, they have some of the best rates when it comes to lack of less recidivism rates.
[00:13:58] Speaker B: Correct. And these are the services that you saw decrease during COVID and measure 110 because the public was bought into the idea that with measure 110, we would have more treatment programs. And so if you're cool with it, I could talk a little bit further about my struggle with, like, right now, there's.
When it went into effect, we just didn't. You saw the community didn't get any results from it. Right. No one called the number. No one went to treatment. And then when I started digging deeper in it, as, you know, as a consultant for loving one another in pacific echelon, one of the questions I get when we intercept someone is I look at them and say, oh, gosh, do you need a moment where we might need you? You're now in a subacute crisis. You're not full acute crisis where I have to call 911, but you're a sub acute because you're building up. Do I need to get you to unity quickly, or do I need to get you to an ER where medical professionals can stabilize you, give you that moment where you could I say rest because those people aren't getting rest. They're not resting out there. But what's happening is the treatment facilities, they're hard to come by. And they called life for line. And I was like, okay, if I was someone that was drug addicted, how hard would it be to get in? And for me, actually, I'm filling out the paperwork for drug detox all the time.
[00:15:16] Speaker A: You do this every day?
[00:15:17] Speaker B: All the time. And I want to make the process.
[00:15:19] Speaker A: What's the number one question they ask you?
[00:15:21] Speaker B: Do they have health insurance?
[00:15:22] Speaker A: Exactly. Do you have health insurance? So recently we came across a subject who was a recent transfer from another region of America into Oregon. They had been here less than a month.
[00:15:35] Speaker B: Correct.
[00:15:36] Speaker A: And because they were from another state, they did not have health insurance.
[00:15:39] Speaker B: They didn't have the Oregon health plan health share piece, and because they never.
[00:15:44] Speaker A: Signed up for it, which, who's walking around signing up homeless people in the streets of Portland for healthcare.
[00:15:50] Speaker B: We help people.
So that's usually the question I ask is, where are you from? Do you have an id? And these are the pathways to getting connected services, just an identification. Do you have health insurance? Health insurance is key to getting proper.
[00:16:08] Speaker A: Detox because it's almost impossible to get detox correct.
[00:16:11] Speaker B: The only option for detox without health insurance is Hooper, and it's a lottery system, and it's already, I love Hooper. They do so much. They do great work. They only have a short, a little bit of beds. But what they do is they take everybody. Think about that. If under measure 110, if we don't provide detoxes that take everybody, then people can't get connected. So Hooper detox is really your small shot. And then for life, for line, the number you're supposed to call when the police officer gives you the card, I call those. Most of those drug detoxers are not even in Portland. So I did mention to Maxine Dexter, our, our house of rep, I said, geez, if we're going to push lifer line or drug detox, then we should probably have services available to us in the Portland metro area and not have to for us. We have to pay for transportation outside.
[00:17:03] Speaker A: Yeah, sometimes we'll pay $100 to $200 just to get someone to a detox center.
[00:17:07] Speaker B: And just on a little side note, the reason why I brought up Hooper detox's van is even if you gave someone a card to call the number, people that are in drug addicted, afflicted, who you see on our sidewalks everywhere, they don't have a vehicle, and they don't have a way to get there.
[00:17:25] Speaker A: They might not even have a phone.
[00:17:26] Speaker B: Correct.
[00:17:26] Speaker A: There's many times when we actually purchase a, we'll get a prepaid phone and by two or three months of minutes for the phone, just so we can get in contact with that individual the following day so we can get them into the.
[00:17:38] Speaker B: Yeah, we have to make a, we have to make an appointment. Like, hey, come and meet us at this time. It's kind of like back before we had cell phones.
[00:17:43] Speaker A: Like, I'll meet you at the mall at 345.
[00:17:48] Speaker B: Exactly. So that's where we're at right now. But what our Portland's failing at is we don't have a way to get them connected so they can be transported to drug detox. Remember that Hooper detox van that buzzes around the community that we no longer have? We actually need a drug detox van.
[00:18:03] Speaker A: We need ten of them.
[00:18:04] Speaker B: And so I'll get on my soapbox a bit about Portland's street response. You've got all those vans out there.
[00:18:11] Speaker A: So explain. So a lot of the audience aren't going to be locals. So people are interested in Portland, but they don't know about Portland yet. So Portland street response is a, is a emergency services.
[00:18:23] Speaker B: It's a response to 911. If someone is unsheltered that instead of a police officer, they dispatch the Portland street response van. The model came out of YouTube.
[00:18:33] Speaker A: There's social workers, maybe an EMT, something like that.
[00:18:36] Speaker B: Yeah. And actually, so you call 911 and then you take state what the emergency is, and you say, oh, my gosh, there's someone who's unsheltered, who's naked on the side of the freeway and.
[00:18:45] Speaker A: Or someone's yelling. I think they might be in a mental health crisis.
[00:18:48] Speaker B: Exactly. And then the van shows up instead of a police officer. But the problem is that van is only providing water and some supplies.
[00:18:57] Speaker A: They have soup in there.
[00:18:58] Speaker B: Soup or granola bars and stuff. They don't transport. And so they just leave the person right there. And honestly, if you're calling 911 because you're see someone suffering, what our community wants to see is that person connected to the services.
[00:19:11] Speaker A: How many Portland street response, or PSR units are there?
[00:19:15] Speaker B: I haven't looked at the budget four or five this year, but it's under the fire bureau under city of Portland. And they got a pretty hearty budget. And so I'm.
[00:19:22] Speaker A: But they take, each unit only takes around three to four calls a day. This is what I've been told.
[00:19:26] Speaker B: The van, I think, is eight to five. Is it Monday through Friday.
But what I expect of that van is to take the person off the street and get them actually connected. That could be drug detox. I'd like to say, hey, or there.
[00:19:38] Speaker A: Needs to be some level of secure transport, another layer of transportation. That's a secured and or also medical transport that can take individuals to hospitals or, you know, different areas.
[00:19:51] Speaker B: This is what our public wants. They want to see Portland street response succeed. They want to see results. They don't want to see the person suffering every single day. And then they feel that the system is broken and they stop calling.
And that's kind of where we're all at right now.
But back to detox.
[00:20:09] Speaker A: What I really explain how hard it is. So what time do you have to get into detox?
[00:20:17] Speaker B: Well, first off, before detox, I consult with them, and I knew of detox and most of our people that we were intercepting, I realized, oh, my gosh, they actually need detox. Most of them need detox.
[00:20:29] Speaker A: Almost everyone on the street.
Even if your main issue is mental health, you're typically using to mask that mental health issue.
[00:20:37] Speaker B: What I'm kind of excited about with working with Alex's two teams is the fact that we get intercept people when they're ready to go. Oh, my gosh, it can't get any better than that. When we see them in their most vulnerable moment, and they reach out, and we reach out our hands and said, let's go. Let's make this happen. And I think the first couple times we did a drug detox transfer, to me, it was euphoric, because this is what Portland wants. They want to see. They don't want to see drug addicted people out there in the sun or in extreme conditions.
So it does take a while to get connected because of the insurance piece. Usually what I have to do is I immediately see them, I collect their information, I hurry and make a quick call.
[00:21:17] Speaker A: So let's say this is on a Monday. They come up to us at 03:00 p.m. And I'm like, you know what? I'm done.
I want to get into detox. This happened to us on July 4. It always happens, which is a holiday and no one's open.
[00:21:30] Speaker B: Yes. And actually, I swear that detox is always Friday at 03:00 and I feverishly work around the clock and make phone calls. I think last Friday, for example, I had someone that wanted to go to detox Friday at three, and I thought I made about 20 phone calls, but I know all the right information asked. But it's just such legwork to get that person in, because in order to do detox, you have to find out exactly what drugs are in their system because that factors in their treatment time.
[00:21:59] Speaker A: It also factors in how much money that treatment center is going to get paid.
So if it's fentanyl, there's more federal dollars and local dollars that will pay usually three to five times more to detox someone off fentanyl than off cocaine.
[00:22:13] Speaker B: I was actually blown away when I started learning about the detox process. Yes. If fentanyl's on board, yes. If it's just meth, they may not take them.
[00:22:20] Speaker A: They may not take you for method.
[00:22:22] Speaker B: Yeah. And so because they're only going to.
[00:22:23] Speaker A: Get paid $100 versus $800.
[00:22:25] Speaker B: So I usually have to look at what I do is I throw.
I kind of throw a line out there to all the detox centers to see who actually has an available bed, who's willing to take them with their insurance.
[00:22:38] Speaker A: I like how you're fishing. You gotta get one.
[00:22:40] Speaker B: It's always like that. And then, and also to what drugs are in their system and then if there's any psych issues that are attached to that as well. Well, and I usually say to the detox, I've got someone that I think that isn't have a severe psychiatric situation, but also it has this. And they've only, and I also dig deeper into the person also respectively, and say, have you done this before? Were you successful?
And also letting them know too, that I think when they come to us for detox, they're so low. They're like so low. And the one thing that they know is when they're reaching out for detoxes with us is we care about them. We do. We really do. We're gonna make this happen. Yeah. But detox for meth is about three. Don't quote me because it depends on each treatment facility and what medications they use to help them come down. But typically, roughly meth is three days. With fentanyl it's four days. If there's more comorbidities and drugs on board, it's five days plus. And then it depends on what treatment plan.
[00:23:45] Speaker A: So let's, let's dial. Just dial it in. Right. Let's dial it in. So getting someone to the detox, especially even at Hooper, which again, great facility, you have to be there at like 730 in the morning.
[00:23:58] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:23:59] Speaker A: And typically you have to have all your paperwork done the day before that. So there's a, let's say there's a houseless individual. Right. And for Hipaa reasons, she's an RN. She's doing a lot of that back end work. We don't talk about names when she's involved in this. Right. Because of her, her background in medical world. So we have a houseless individual. They contact us on a Monday, 03:00 p.m. We're scrambling to get paperwork done because not only do we have to get the paperwork done for the detox facility, but almost, almost always they require a bed to be attached to that individual before they get a detox. So we're also finding them a shelter bed. And we don't know if it's going to be three, four, or five days later because we don't know how long it's going to take them to actually detox and stabilize. So we're doing two sets of paperwork.
[00:24:45] Speaker B: Correct. I mean, and by we, I mean three, actually.
[00:24:47] Speaker A: Oh, okay.
[00:24:48] Speaker B: So there's the pre, the, the mid, and the post in terms of detox, because for us, when we intercept someone, they're actually in a tent or on the ground in a compromised situation. Their safety is now breached. Their health condition has worsened.
We need to find them.
[00:25:05] Speaker A: And they're stepping away from their drug dealer that could get violent. They're stepping away from a relationship that could turn violent.
[00:25:10] Speaker B: Correct. Yep. And that's, you know, it reminds me of a. I had a prostitute who. This is a great example. She.
[00:25:17] Speaker A: A sex worker?
[00:25:18] Speaker B: Is that better?
[00:25:19] Speaker A: I would say a commercially sexual. Sexualized, perfect, commercially sexually exploited person.
[00:25:25] Speaker B: I care about everyone. She came up to me. She was found in a parking garage in downtown Portland, and she was living in. What happens is they hop from tent to tent because, you know, and in the guise of being safe by a male or something or someone that could provide them some kind of safety. And she reached out to me. I got a tip that she wasn't looking so good on the street. She felt very insecure. I spoke to her in confidence, and she said, I'm scared for my life, and I don't think that I got caught up in this drug thing, and it's taken me over, and I want to get my life back on track, and I'm scared. And she was hiding in a parking structure. And I said, you know what? We got a game plan now. And so I put her in an emergency.
[00:26:06] Speaker A: So she's hiding from her pamp.
[00:26:08] Speaker B: Pretty much, yes. And what I originally started was, well, would you. I don't like to give tents up because I think that tents are not the way to go for Portland. I think services are better. So what I said to. Because that's what she was used to, right? A tent. And she asked for a tent. And I said, I'm going to take it a step further. I'm going to put you in Gresham women's shelter. I would like to give a little shout out to Gresham.
[00:26:29] Speaker A: I don't even know the story. Yeah, we save so many people.
[00:26:32] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:26:32] Speaker A: There's so many stories I haven't even heard of.
[00:26:34] Speaker B: So she. Because she was. She was a. I think it was like a Friday night or a Saturday morning. I can't remember, but I remember it was off hours, and I remember having to struggle, and I cared about her. And I was like, I'm not gonna leave her out here in a parking structure, fearing for her life. And I have to give a special kudos to aggression. Women's shelter. They do such a good job. Portland is struggling with women's shelters right now, and that is the only workhorse out there. And I call the mayor's office, I call the county, and I say, you have to do a better job. Of women's shelters. That is the one service that we.
[00:27:04] Speaker A: Are short in Portland, about ten years ago, only 5% of the population of the unhoused were women. Currently in Portland, it's 20%.
[00:27:11] Speaker B: I blame the drug crisis for that as well, because they get into the lifestyle, and then they become compromised, and they become victims of the game. Right? Fentanyl is absolutely a victim creator, and actually, it creates a victim for all people, all humans out there that are caught up in this drug situation. But anyway, back to her.
I got her emergency sheltering, and I said to her, you absolutely. This is a stepping stone. I care about you. We're going to respect each other, and if you follow me, we'll succeed. And I said, I need you to go to drug detox. And so we talked about it, and we talked about the different options, and she was so savvy enough to know because she's tried it before, and she didn't want to suffer. And I. And what's. What's interesting to me is people in the street, they know that detox can be painful. And so for someone like myself, I have to understand the process before I offer it to them. I can't just. Well, you're just gonna go to Hooper. Well, Hooper makes you bite on a stick, because Hooper doesn't. It doesn't allow you to come down easy. Right. Because they are what they are. You're just straight up detox.
Fora and the other services out there provide a little bit more of an easy transition down. And so for someone like myself, that that's reassuring to that person on the street that might have tried drug detox before, and they're vulnerable. I was like, let's work here. You know, I'm not just going to give you one option. I do love Hooper detox, but like I said, they are good at what they do, but there's other services that make it a little bit more of a gentle process, and they're scared of suffering. They are.
[00:28:43] Speaker A: Until this individual, you were able to transition them successfully to fora.
[00:28:47] Speaker B: Yeah, because they were worried. They were worried, and they would only take for us. So fora has a.
[00:28:53] Speaker A: So they went to Gresham's women's center.
[00:28:57] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:28:58] Speaker A: And then from there to fora.
[00:28:59] Speaker B: Fora. But so think about all the things I have to do finding and intercepting someone on the street, gaining their trust, figuring out like from a health related standpoint, what they need to succeed, not forcing something on them, but finding the right treatment path for her. Right. She, as a nurse, it was like, not yet, but my former training was safety first. I gotta get this woman off the street right now. Number two, then we could focus on detox. Number three is long term housing. And I check in with her, and now she is eligible for put, being placed on list for affordable housing or something like that. Transmission out. But I have to check on her too. And then, but this, her case is just like everybody else. The people out there need that customized case management, and they're not getting that. Right.
[00:29:43] Speaker A: It has to be customized because each individual's unique.
[00:29:45] Speaker B: Correct. I can't just send someone, you know, it just depends on their social structure too, whether they're going to succeed or not. And in this case of this person that was a sex worker, she actually had people in the community that were not a part of the drug trade that cared about her. And so we were able to link up with that person because I'm not going to be their social support. I'm a connector. And so I want to make sure that they have someone on the outside.
[00:30:11] Speaker A: And I think like a faith group or a family.
[00:30:13] Speaker B: Correct. Yep. Get him in a. And for example, our last case, maybe AA group, I had that gentleman that came from out of state, he didn't have a social support here.
[00:30:22] Speaker A: Zero.
[00:30:22] Speaker B: And so I had to look at him a little different. He's not a hooper. No health care, no healthcare, and he's.
[00:30:27] Speaker A: Not a family member. No family, no friends.
[00:30:28] Speaker B: Yeah. And so I had to find something. He was scared of the come down. Right. And so, and he had, he got.
[00:30:34] Speaker A: Sent here, actually from another state. They just put him on a bus and said, you're going to Portland.
[00:30:39] Speaker B: Correct. And by the way, I work with TPI and all the agencies as a consultant. I respect their rules, so we don't send people back to their state in a compromised condition. So I looked at. Because he wants to go back home. Right. A lot of people do. When they get here, they believe this Portland was going to give them some kind of experience that they were sold via on media, maybe social media, urban.
[00:31:05] Speaker A: Camping, all the drugs you want.
[00:31:06] Speaker B: Yeah. And then they get here and then they realize pretty quickly that Portland festival.
[00:31:11] Speaker A: Like the burning man or something.
[00:31:12] Speaker B: Right. Something. No. And actually, every day I deal with someone that's from out of state, they arrived here and they no longer feel safe. They don't have social supports. And so I actually, being in a consultant, I also work with union gospel mission to do the ticket home program. But they do such a good job of making sure we find that they have a social support back home. And we get.
[00:31:36] Speaker A: We want to contact a family member, screen them, make sure that they have a place to stay. And actually, it's the right move.
[00:31:42] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:31:43] Speaker A: Cause we're not just gonna funnel homeless people randomly across America.
[00:31:47] Speaker B: We're definitely not gonna send someone with an active drug addiction back past the buck. I think that we do a good job of at least making sure they're connected to services. But back to drug detox, there was the. What I was explaining about the pre part was getting the person safely connected to a shelter. We do that for anybody. We get them a temporary placement. And if I can't get them a temporary placement, I ask them where they can temporarily be safe, where they're safe. We also give out vouchers for shelters, too. City team is great. And sometimes they'll say to me, well, I don't necessarily want this shelter. I was like, this is going to be for 24 hours until we go into drug detox. This is a step up out of the situation.
[00:32:28] Speaker A: Use a hotel room.
[00:32:29] Speaker B: Correct.
[00:32:30] Speaker A: We do what we have to do.
[00:32:31] Speaker B: Correct. And then they go into detox for about three to five days. And then I circle back and I make the connection where if they get released, we go ahead and arrange their public transportation, I should say secured transportation to a residential treatment program that can totally support them because they're vulnerable. Right. We wouldn't want someone that just got freshly detoxed back out on the street where they might see their. Their. The circumstances that put them in there in the first place.
[00:33:02] Speaker A: So to say it briefly, it's very complicated.
[00:33:05] Speaker B: It is. It's so complicated. But it's happening. We're doing it.
[00:33:08] Speaker A: It's complicated.
[00:33:09] Speaker B: If we can do it.
[00:33:10] Speaker A: Oh, our city. If we had a hundred people doing this last. I had the stats here. Usually I don't use this, my memo pad. But last month alone, just loving one another, which is three full time people and one part time person. Right. We sheltered 141 people. We bridged seven people in hotels.
We reconnected eleven with family members.
We got eleven into housing. A lot of those are the rv park or also the tiny home. Right. Some type of housing.
We got five into detox and one into unity.
Right. So that's a total of 176 people that literally three and a half people did right. And you facilitated the majority of those.
[00:34:01] Speaker B: That's my favorite piece, is the success is making sure. I love complicated cases. I want to make sure people get connected. And actually, not on that list are referrals to aging disability services. I did, too, in the last 45 days where someone I saw out there exhibited behaviors where they are unable to handle them themselves in the community. And I put in a consult with the county to get them services that they deserve. Like, recently, we had an unsheltered male that lost his eyesight and was getting attacked and beat up. And I called aging disability services, and I said, okay, I think it's time. So oftentimes, a lot of these cases, the feedback we get from nonprofits and hospitals is like, thank gosh someone's doing the job. Can't believe you're doing this.
[00:34:48] Speaker A: You're actually out there doing direct service. And we're like, yeah. And they're like, no one does that.
[00:34:54] Speaker B: No. And we usually get. What's interesting is we get calls, like, from the hospital. I got a call from the hospital the other day, and they're like, tiffany, we need help with this person. And I thought, oh, my God, we're finally there. We're finally there. People trust us in the community. The unsheltered trusts us in our. Where the service providers, we're connecting to realize that we're serious about what we do.
[00:35:14] Speaker A: Yeah. So just on air. I just want to thank you for all the hard work that you do, because these 176 people, they matter.
[00:35:25] Speaker B: They do.
[00:35:26] Speaker A: And, you know, sometimes I think that we forget that all these people, they were someone's father or mother. They're someone brother or sister. And I've lost my brother. And I would do anything. I would do anything, almost anything to get my brother back. If I could just get him back.
[00:35:43] Speaker B: Yep. I think. I think these people are all.
[00:35:45] Speaker A: They're all on death's throes. They're literally standing at the precipice of the end of their life, about to fall into an endless pit.
Well, they'll never be seen ever again. And we, specifically, you and the street crew, you stepped up, and you saved these 176 lives.
[00:36:09] Speaker B: We made the connection.
[00:36:10] Speaker A: You made those connections. And that's gonna. That's gonna. That ripple effect in a community is going to affect tens of thousands of people. Their friends, their family members.
[00:36:21] Speaker B: I have a strong moral compass, and when I see this, I want these connections. This is what our community wants. We're a connector. I am a connector.
[00:36:32] Speaker A: You're the glue that holds it together, too.
[00:36:33] Speaker B: Well, I mean, holding it together, if everybody made actual connections, I think Portland would be better off. But here's the deal. I do hold a lot of these places accountable. Our shelter systems right now in Portland, the county, and the city shelters, I'm proud of them because they take anybody, everybody. You can have a drug addiction. You can have warrants. You could have a pet. If they have a bed, if they have a bed.
And most of the time, I can get people placed. It's just, it may take a few days. And if I can't, then I go to the other counties around us. Because you know what? They should be a part of it as well, right? They can't just send people to Portland and expect Portland to deal with it. But back to them, I ask. I look at the shelter systems right now.
They're getting all these folks that actually need drug addiction services, and I hold accountable. I won't tell you how many times I talked to a shelter operator or their caseworker and say, hey, why did you send this person back out in the community? You knew they needed XYz service. What do they say exactly? I think as we needed the bed.
[00:37:40] Speaker A: We got more funding. This person was on fentanyl.
[00:37:43] Speaker B: Or you know what, Tiffany? You're right. We should have probably done that, or oopsie Daisy or stuff like that. I mean, we're all humans, but as a Portland taxpayer or someone in the community, we want to see people actually connected services. So I say hold our shelter system, our county, and the city, both of them, accountable. When a shelter takes on someone that has an active drug addiction, you should probably ask to see how many drug detox processes they do currently. I don't see them processing anyone to the drug detox center.
[00:38:15] Speaker A: It's very rare.
[00:38:15] Speaker B: Yeah. So if we're, you know, I was talking to, I won't say, say which drug detox facility, but we send them so many, they're like, where are you getting these people? And I said, are you joking? Look around you. Everywhere I look, someone's in a drug crisis. And if you're questioning where I'm finding all these people, I'm finding these people because they're in the wrong place at the right time, and they're intercepting a team that cares about them and making the connection.
[00:38:39] Speaker A: We've been told many times you're currently referring more people than law enforcement.
[00:38:46] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:38:46] Speaker A: The county.
[00:38:47] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:38:48] Speaker A: You know, the actual agencies that have the millions and millions of dollars to do this, and we're doing this with three and a half people.
[00:38:55] Speaker B: And the community knows it, too. So, you know, it's funny is if. I bet you if the county or the city put out a billboard on the side that said, call this number if you need a ride to drug detox, they might actually get people to go or a location that says, go here on the. On the.
[00:39:11] Speaker A: And there was a bus. There was a bus that just took you, and it just ran 24 hours a day.
[00:39:16] Speaker B: That's actually like a case worker. Like, you'll get appointed a caseworker.
[00:39:19] Speaker A: The caseworker should be on the bus waiting. They should be part of the busing system. They should be in the bus triaging.
[00:39:25] Speaker B: Well, by the way, if that's the case, then we need federal dollars, because right now, with this drug crisis, we're attracting everybody across the nation to be here because of the legalized, personal amounts of all forms of drugs. I'm gonna tell you right now, and I tell the personal. I'm gonna tell you right now, I'm mad. I just.
I do harsh reduction as well.
[00:39:45] Speaker A: This is Tiffany Madd.
[00:39:46] Speaker B: And originally, during COVID I was okay with giving out narcans because I thought it was the right thing to do because of social distancing, spacing, and our healthcare system was overwhelmed. But we're post that, and what we're seeing is people are dying so much that I cannot be behind a policy that is a death sentence. Really. Every time we go to use a Narcan, it could be up to $500, because you have to administer one every two to three minutes.
[00:40:14] Speaker A: And what is this called? Harm reduction.
[00:40:16] Speaker B: Correct. And now it needs to be harm prevention or harm. Instead of giving them the tools to kill themselves, we need transportation instead.
[00:40:24] Speaker A: So, the public policy terminology is harm reduction, meaning. Well, we should give them safe needles to use to inject the drugs, or we should give them foil and straws so we know those foil and straws are clean and they don't have to share them, so they don't get COVID.
[00:40:40] Speaker B: Correct.
[00:40:41] Speaker A: So we're reducing harm on the streets, when really, you're. You're actually facilitating drug deals.
[00:40:45] Speaker B: So one of the problems I have is once someone overdoses on the street, they're blue, and you have to recess them back to life and then use $500 worth of Narcan. To me, that should be an indicator that person needs to be considered for drug detox, because the chance of them coding again is so much higher, and that's a drain on our system. And our 911, as you can see, can't handle that. And every it's crazy.
[00:41:10] Speaker A: How many. Isn't addiction considered a disease?
[00:41:12] Speaker B: No, I don't know how to define that.
[00:41:14] Speaker A: Since the nine eighties or nineties I'm gonna get an expert on because my whole thing as a police, as a former Leo, and that's not a sign on an astrological chart. That means law enforcement officer, right. As a former law enforcement agent, you know, I look at the police officer hold, the ability to do a civil commitment, right? And it seems that if someone is struggling from a drug induced psychosis or their addiction is so harming that they're overdosing, that you should be allowed to do a police officer hold for that reason because addiction is considered a disease at this point. So that is a disease, you know, I mean, at some point we need these laws of these civil commitment laws to change with our society and what's really going on.
[00:42:01] Speaker B: I wish I had time to ponder those thoughts. I'm more of your frontline nurse soldier.
I'm all about, I'm like, I was trying to ER and I'm like, I don't have time for that. All I know is I got a problem on the street and I need to get them connected.
[00:42:15] Speaker A: You have three rooms and you have code in three rooms.
[00:42:17] Speaker B: Yeah, that's. And I don't take time to think about, ponder about that. But yes.
[00:42:24] Speaker A: Tiffany Hammer, you're fantastic. You're amazing. We could talk for hours about this.
Where I want to go now is I want you to talk about the past because you're a property owner, you know, in downtown area. I want you talk about the past, the present, and what you think the future is going to look like.
[00:42:40] Speaker B: Yes. Okay.
[00:42:41] Speaker A: So talk about kind of how we met and where Portland was, how the, the gauntlet that we traveled through and where we want to take Portland.
[00:42:50] Speaker B: Okay, so about three years ago, you and I met. I am a property owner in downtown, also a former registered nurse, community health nurse. This is where I went to school. This is my community and I love my community. And when my community's not feeling very well, obviously I have to step in. So what I stepped in three years ago was in public safety rules. I was the president of Public Safety Action Coalition. I also serve on the clean and safe board as a representative for property in Old Town. But also I serve on a subcommittee for behavioral health. And so one of my biggest pushes early on.
[00:43:31] Speaker A: So you sit on a lot of.
[00:43:32] Speaker B: Influential committees and boards and I definitely lean in on behavioral health issues, public safety health issues.
And I'm very passionate about that because I think that's the direction Portland to go.
[00:43:45] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:43:46] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:43:47] Speaker A: Mental health. Yeah, 100%.
[00:43:49] Speaker B: Yep. And so three years ago, being part of downtown, I call it the essential involvement. I couldn't zoom away, get away. And I was there every single day to watch the whole. The whole fallout.
[00:44:02] Speaker A: So everyone else is hiding in their homes or not showing up to work, and here we are.
[00:44:06] Speaker B: Yeah, I was there from the beginning.
[00:44:08] Speaker A: And if we're walking the streets like, hey, this is getting worse. And everyone's like, no, it's not as fine, but those people are on Zoom.
[00:44:14] Speaker B: Correct.
[00:44:15] Speaker A: Miles away.
[00:44:16] Speaker B: So what I did as a part of my community, when I saw suffering, I saw two couple things. I saw the drug crisis take hold. I saw COVID.
[00:44:27] Speaker A: People weren't overdosing at the rank.
Very rare.
[00:44:31] Speaker B: No. And I don't know the stats, but I know it was not. I mean, it was more rare. And back then, our police presence in downtown old Town specifically pulled out. We used to have a walking foot patrol, and at that time, there was a staffing shortage. There was a lot of political unrest. And when the walking foot patrol pulled out, what I saw was an explosion of health disparities, human suffering, victimization, drug overdoses, everything you think of under the sun. And so I stepped in immediately. I saw people living in impoverished conditions because our typical structure, our laws, everything just went out the door. And you saw people living in actually inhumane conditions. And then somehow we evolved into, I guess it's okay having someone living on the side of the street or the road, urinating, defecating right there where they're laying in it. And that's acceptable?
[00:45:34] Speaker A: Yeah. In fact, there were, I think I can remember at least three deaths that were the result of. It was wintertime. These individuals had winterized equipment, but they were robbed of it in the middle of the night and actually died from exposure or hypothermia.
[00:45:51] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:45:52] Speaker A: And so the gangs were actually going out and robbing people's tents and sleeping bags in the middle of the night.
It's like 20 degrees outside and raining early on.
[00:46:02] Speaker B: And people will tell you in the city knows. The city of Portland knows. I started tent counts as early as March of 2020 because I was down there, and I started to see an influx of people coming into the inner core.
[00:46:14] Speaker A: And the tent count is people living in tents on the streetwalks, correct?
[00:46:18] Speaker B: Yeah. And I did it by geographic locations because I felt it was the best indicator of neighborhood by neighborhood success or not, and how. How much impact it would have on a neighborhood. So what I did is I started with old town Chinatown. I did the monthly counts, and I actually still have all the data for all those years. And I still keep up with the data because to me, if Portland has to have some kind of data to follow, are we really helping people get connected to services? If our tent counts go up, if they go down, then we know that Portland street responses as a success.
And so that's kind of where I look for benchmarks, and I do it for other areas, too, that I care about greatly. So if you have me in your neighborhood, then you know that I care about your neighborhood. And chances are you probably have a tent count on your neighborhood. And so, yeah, and so the inner core area. And you'll see me at a news, I did a news interview a couple years back. I actually would keep the tent counts with downtown. I worked with Pearl district, Northwest district, and Goose Hollow and southwest Hills. And collectively, we understood who was coming to us in this inner court area during their, during this crisis.
And then I gave it to the mayor's office after that. And to me, I think actual real time tent counts in neighborhoods are more effective than the, I don't mind the one year count that the county does, but the problem is, when they go to announce it, people up and rise and leave. And our neighborhoods are what really sees what in real time, what happens. And so if we, if we, one of the issues for Portland is if we want to tackle this, we have to do it by geographic locations. We have to really look at community health. And that's why I think a community health nurse would succeed in this environment, is because system wise, when I look at Old Town, I know that population, I have their tent counts. I know how to get them connected to the services. And then when I go to another area where you're working and we get people over there, I have to look at why they're there, what they need, what other services they have. And so Portland, I think in the future, for Portland, success is we have to work on more transportation.
[00:48:24] Speaker A: To get transportation is absolutely key.
[00:48:26] Speaker B: Yep. But also, too, is more services that are equitable across Portland. I'm so sick and tired of them putting every service in old Town right now. And that's actually what's creating more victims and marginalized conditions. And history is repeating itself when we do that. Right. It's called the, I'm all about decentralizing services. They have to be equitable across Portland.
[00:48:49] Speaker A: Well, and typically, you know, these services are put in minority neighborhoods.
[00:48:53] Speaker B: Correct.
[00:48:53] Speaker A: And it's kind of an old form of redlining. It's really not good where you're intentionally driving down values. You're keeping people, you're keeping minority neighborhoods from real success.
[00:49:03] Speaker B: And actually, during COVID and post COVID, we noticed that homicide was because of what we did. It's like, oh, all the services are over here, and then all. And if we had a large concentration, what happened was homicides spiked up and victimization. And so that model does not work.
[00:49:21] Speaker A: If you put all the resources in one area and then 500 people move into hunger games to a 30. Yeah, it's like hungry to a 30 block area. And now you have to fight over blocks, and, you know, you have to pay money or drugs or sex for protection.
[00:49:35] Speaker B: Correct.
[00:49:35] Speaker A: You got all this social dynamics because you're forcing everyone into one area rather than having a decentralized platform.
[00:49:42] Speaker B: I've seen this many a times, and I go back way.
[00:49:44] Speaker A: So they're causing drug and gang wars.
[00:49:48] Speaker B: Correct. And so, for example, when the county announced they had extra funding to house people now program, they came over to Old Town, which is already marginalized, which already has services to get people connected right there at TBI, showing that they were guiding people from different facets of Portland to an area that they might not necessarily hang out during the day in. And then we started seeing a little bit of skirmishes and stuff, and people felt unsafe. And even people said, I'm too scared to go over there. And so to me, that was guiding people into an area where it was already burdened.
[00:50:21] Speaker A: It was so bad, the. That greyhound had to shut their entire facility down. They did this, and then to make money, they. They rented it back to the county.
[00:50:32] Speaker B: Correct.
[00:50:32] Speaker A: Right. And so now the greyhound, which used to be a station, which caused engagement, increased levels of engagement. Right. Which would naturally bring dick crime down. With community engagement going up. Now it's a shelter, and outside the shelter are all the drug dealers in the tents selling to the people in the shelter.
[00:50:53] Speaker B: Now, Portland, if they want to get on track, we shouldn't have TPI over in Old Town as the only place to go get all connected services. Portland needs to have at least four geographic locations. North Portland, northeast, southeast, because all communities have homeless people.
[00:51:14] Speaker A: That's right.
[00:51:15] Speaker B: But forcing them to go to one and only location and to. And if they come all the way over and they get victimized while they're in the line, that's the problem. Yeah, that's a problem. And you're most heavily drug addicted, by the way.
[00:51:27] Speaker A: About 15% of the homeless population are transitory homelessness. Do you have the typical mother with one or two kids who was victimized by a domestic partner? And so they're out in probably Gresham, somewhere else, which is a safer area to be, but in order for them to transition, they have to drive into the. Into an area that is riddled with gang violence and shootings in order to get service. And it doesn't. That doesn't make any sense because why would you want to bring a five year old and a seven year old downtown and make them wait in a line where there are drug dealers across the street selling dope?
[00:52:01] Speaker B: Correct. Now I have to give a special shout out to Old Town because I'm a part of Old Town. Our community has had enough. We've already done our share. Portland needs to do the rest. We are so accepting of Portland and the county. Yes, Portland and the county. That neighborhood alone takes everyone. No judgment.
[00:52:19] Speaker A: Right.
[00:52:20] Speaker B: But you have to also recognize that this area is now struggling. Right. Homicides up. It's not up right now, but. But now what it is, is drug overdoses are up. Why would we guide people from all over Portland to an area where drug overdoses, I mean, right now, a couple times a day? Yesterday, I parked my car for a split second and someone was overdosing and the stretcher was out there on the sidewalk. And I thought, oh, my gosh, old town. So we shouldn't guide people to an area that's struggling. We should set up equitable areas.
[00:52:52] Speaker A: So that's what the future looks like. Tiffany, you're going to continue to be a part of the family. You're going to always be in the back, you know, as that central nervous system helping the body function correctly.
[00:53:04] Speaker B: Always. I support your staff behind the scenes, if anything. If anything, I support whoever intercepts the person to provide them the services they truly deserve and need. And, yeah, you've got a great team.
[00:53:17] Speaker A: Thanks. If you want to check out the work that we do at loving one another, it's loa pdx.org. Loa pdx.
Tiffany Hammer is not listed on the website because she flies under the radar and behind the scenes. That's Tiffany. That's how she rolls. It was actually extremely difficult to convince her to come in today.
She's a bright, shining star, but she would prefer not to get any credit. She would love to push that credit onto the frontline workers, the street crew.
[00:53:46] Speaker B: Correct.
[00:53:47] Speaker A: And I appreciate you coming in today, Tiff. I know we're going to hit the streets because we don't sit in Zoom meetings and we don't want to work in an office.
[00:53:55] Speaker B: No, actually, Alex asked me to do this, and I said no. You've pegged me, right? But I'd rather spend that time working on the streets, because I know that time is of the essence and we need to help people.
[00:54:06] Speaker A: That's right. Someone's overdosing right now.
[00:54:07] Speaker B: I'd rather not do a podcast. I'd rather be out there helping people.
[00:54:10] Speaker A: So it is important to get the message out. But we're gonna go hit the streets, and we're gonna actually work towards the benefit of other people, because that's what Loa's about. That's what Tiffany's about. So I say we go hit the streets. What do you think?
[00:54:23] Speaker B: Let's do it.
[00:54:23] Speaker A: All right. Let's go.
