The Guardian - 03.08.2019

There is no escape for families in Yemen

who are fl eeing their homes because of war.

Thousands of children have nothing – no home,

no clean water, no food, and no hospital to go

to when they are ill or injured.

Many have no choice but to live on the streets

and beg for food. Will you help them?

The people of Yemen

are in urgent need.

Please help them today.

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No home, no food

and no medical care.

Who will help them?

COULD HELP DISPLACED FAMILIES BUY FOOD AND

RECEIVE LIFE-SAVING MEDICAL TREATMENT, CLEAN

£75 WATER, SAFE SHELTER AND OTHER ESSENTIAL ITEMS

YEMEN EMERGENCY

© UNHCR/Mohammed Hamoud

Saturday 3 August 2019 The Guardian •

25

family as “loving” and a “free spirit”.
“It’s sad, but what can you do?
The help is here if they want it,” says
Bradley, refl ecting on the deaths.
Bradley, who has also volunteered,
running the charity’s peer-
mentoring group meetings, was born
and bred in Southend.
“You’ve got to talk to each other.
They all sit and chat about this that
and the other and they open up a bit
more.”
Artwork and inspirational
messages created by patients adorn
the walls of the “recovery cafe”,
and a memorial book in the corner
serves as a reminder to the deadly
consequences of substance misuse.
Bradley points to her husband’s
name. “It was his own fault, he
didn’t take any notice of me so there
you go,” she says of his death 11 years
ago.
Boxes of cheesecakes are piled on
the counter, donated the previous
evening by a bakery worker who
knew someone who had been
helped by the charity.
“It’s a nice feel when you walk in
here although it’s bloomin’ hot,” says
Bradley as a batch of chicken cooks
in the ovens behind her. “You know
everyone by fi rst names and they all
know us. They know that they can
trust us.”
STARS, which is commissioned
by Southend-on-Sea borough
council, helped treat 661 people for

substance misuse in the 12 months

to June, including 76 who completed

programmes and are now drug-free.

Deaths from drug misuse in

Southend are slightly higher than

the national average, according

to statistics from Public Health

England.

Between 2015-17, there were

4.8 deaths from drug misuse per

100,000 in the town compared to a

rate of 4.3 nationally.

Sir David Amess, Tory MP for

Southend West where two of the

deaths are thought to have occurred,

has written to the home secretary

Priti Patel and is calling on Essex

police to provide answers.

“It’s absolutely horrendous, it’s

heartbreaking for all those involved.

I want to know whether they [the

police] can shed any light on this,”

he said.

Dr Ahmad Muhamed, a specialist

in addiction psychiatry who is the

clinical lead at STARS – which is run

by the national charity Change Grow

Live – says he treats people with

addictions to an array of substances

including heroin, crack cocaine,

cannabis and alcohol. Patients are

prescribed substance substitutes

such as methadone and gradually

tapered off their drug use, he said,

in a process which sometimes takes

months but can often drag on longer

for years.

“It varies from one patient to

another because you have to take

into account a lot of factors: their

physical health, their mental health,

their socioeconomic status,” he

said. “Even if they have been on it

for years, the end goal is for them to

come off it.”

Two-thirds of those seeking help

from the centre for drug addictions

are hooked on opiates. Muhamed

explained the importance of

providing patients with the drug

naloxone, which they are also

trained to inject. “Naloxone is

an opiate antagonist, if it’s given

to anybody who sadly suff ers

accidently from an opiate overdose

and it saves their life,” he said.

Shahida Akram, who has been

service manager at STARS for two

years but worked there for twice that

time, said the number of drug deaths

in the past week is unprecedented.

The deaths all happened in

people’s own homes, Essex

police have said. Asked about the

misconception that drug addicts are

mainly homeless , Akram says rough

sleepers account for “a very small

statistic”, adding: “We get people

from all walks of life. There isn’t

one type of substance that’s related

to one type of person, it’s just a

complete mixture.”

Back in the cafe, Bradley refl ects

on the mounting drug problem

facing the town as a queue forms

for her freshly-served chicken. “To

be honest, I think Southend needs

a lot more of these places because

the work we do here, I think, is

amazing.”

‘You know

everyone by

fi rst names

and they

know us.

They know

they can

trust us’

Elaine

Bradley

▼ Elaine Bradley prepares chicken for

her lunch club, catering for hundreds

of addicts in Southend PHOTOGRAPH:

GRAEME ROBERTSON/THE GUARDIAN

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