When Delia Williams was in Alaska U.S. Sen. Dan Sullivan’s office last fall, she found herself opening up in a way she never had before.
“I held a lot in for many years,” Williams said during an interview at Haven House Tuesday. “I used to be ashamed. I didn’t want to be looked at as a junkie or an alcoholic or mentally incapable.”
But to Sullivan, she let her story out. Williams explained how she used to have a normal life before things went awry.
“What led me into deep drugs and alcohol was losing a child, and then going in a really deep depression for years after that,” she said.
Williams sought treatment from various providers.
“And they all turned me down. I was like a hundred pounds. I looked like death,” she said.
Williams is one of eight Alaska women who spoke to Sullivan that day. Their visit to Washington, D.C. last year was combined with their participation in the UNITE to Face Addiction Rally.
The women are the inspiration behind the Wellness Summit taking place in Palmer Thursday. Sullivan called the women “courageous” in a “My Turn” printed in the Empire on Monday.
[My Turn: Help put Alaska on a path to recovery]
“That was the most poignant and powerful meeting I’ve had as a U.S. Senator. It opened up my eyes to the problem of addiction and what this scourge was doing to Alaskans all across the state,” he wrote. “As the conversation drew to a close, there was not a dry eye in the room.”
After talking to the group, Sullivan became a co-sponsor on the Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act (also known as CARA), which was passed and signed into law.
“It will provide much-needed resources to communities to fight the epidemic. It’s a good step, but much more needs to be done on the local, state and federal levels,” Sullivan wrote.
Hence, the Wellness Summit, which Sullivan wrote is “dedicated to conquering the opioid and heroin epidemic.”
The summit is bringing together federal and state officials, state leaders in recovery and community members, including family members and those struggling with addiction. The goal is to “produce tangible solutions that the attending federal officials and I can take back to D.C.”
‘Still on the frontline’
More than 300 Alaskans are expected to be at the summit. While all eight Alaskan women were personally invited, only three of the six from Juneau are able to attend. They’re excited to be recognized as such an integral part of the summit’s conception.
“I think it’s difficult to grasp on a larger scale because we’re celebrating the success of this movement moving forward and at the same time, we’re still on the frontline,” Christina Love said at Haven House Tuesday.
Love is in long-term recovery. Working at AWARE and as a recovery coach, she spends a lot of her time fighting to get women into treatment. She’s attending and planning to speak at the summit.
[Juneau ‘Sherpas’ help guide addicts into treatment, recovery]
“As I’m trying to write my speech, I’m afraid I’m going to have to use the Narcan in my purse. It’s still very real and raw,” she said.
Love called the attention and participation in the summit surreal, especially in light in where the Juneau women have come from.
“Something that we have in common is that we were rejected by a lot of providers. When Delia was 100 pounds, when I was 80 pound, we knew in our hearts that we were sick. We looked emaciated and yet we were turned away,” Love described. “It’s easy to throw our demographic away.”
She said this happened because of the stigma that was — and often still is — attached to addicts.
“There are still a lot of people that don’t believe it’s a disease. There are still a lot of people that believe it’s a moral failing,” Love said.
She hopes the summit will help shift that perspective. Sullivan also believes addiction should be addressed as a health concern.
‘We’re not just side stories’
Kara Nelson, recovery coach and director of Haven House, arrived in Anchorage on Tuesday for the summit. Wednesday morning, she was on a three-person panel with U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy before an audience of a couple hundred medical professionals.
The discussion was part of the Surgeon General’s national tour, “Turn the Tide Rx,” where he talks about how doctors can help stop prescription opioid abuse. It was Nelson’s first time actually talking to Murthy, although she recalled a near interaction.
“I was 10 feet away from him at the rally in D.C. We locked eyeballs,” she said, laughing.
Nelson is also scheduled to help kick off the Wellness Summit Thursday. She’s pictured on the summit website as a speaker alongside bigwigs like U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Deputy Secretary Dr. Mary Wakefield, U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski, U.S. Congressman Don Young and Alaska’s Chief Medical Officer Dr. Jay Butler.
“Isn’t that insane? I can’t wrap my mind around it,” she said.
But Nelson has chosen to share her 20 minutes with the other women who were in Sullivan’s office that day, the women who — as written on the agenda — inspired the summit. Nelson said the Juneau women who weren’t able to make it to the summit are a big piece of the message she’s trying to spread.
“Those are women living at real time, right now. I think it’s important to show a couple of things. First of all, our voices do matter and we can make a difference. Second, we do recover and it’s not linear. This is long-term continuum of care and we’re really showing the face and voice of that,” Nelson said.
She said it’s time to stop allowing others to make decisions that affect their lives. She said staying silent does nothing except perpetuate the stigma. One’s voice is an important tool.
“We’re not just side stories. We need to be in leadership roles, we need to be at every table making decisions, we need to be involved with creating policy that affect our families and loved ones,” Nelson said.
The summit is allowing them to have that role, she said.
“We’re seeing we have to do this together — the medical professionals, the community, those in long-term recovery, those with family members still in active addiction. All of us have to come together.”
• Contact reporter Lisa Phu at 523-2246 or lisa.phu@juneauempire.com
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