Exceptional Advocates

Charles “Hossy” Kitts

Virginia NAMA

Tazewell, VA

Extraordinary Advocate 2004

This award is given to recognize Charles “Hossy” Kitts extraordinary work in 2004 that includes the continued support for a patient that was arrested by the probation department for “taking methadone”, (yes you read that right!) his support and help to patients at our message board “We Speak Methadone” and for his vocal defense in the newspapers to expand methadone treatment in Virginia and the neighboring states.

Hossy Kitts has been an untiring advocate since he joined NAMA and decided to organize Virginia NAMA with his Co-director Cheri Jarvis. As one of the moderators for “We Speak Methadone” Hossy is known for his compassion and eagerness to help patients who come online with a problem. Expanding his advocacy efforts Kitts has become a well-known letter writer in local newspapers supporting the expansion of methadone in Virginia and the neighboring states where presently programs are needed to blunt the crisis of increasing opioid use in the region.

What really brought Hossy Kitts to the attention of the Board of Directors was a patient that contacted NAMA in February 2004. The patient was asking for help because they were being forced to withdraw from methadone as a condition of probation. The patient was given a period to withdraw from methadone and had about two weeks left when the patient began to experience drug craving. Correctly, the program physician raised the dose in order to block the craving. However when the patient during a weekly scheduled appointment reported to the probation department that the dose had been increased and the reason an unsympathetic probation officer arrested the patient in violation of probation and put them in jail.

Hoss started asking everyone at NAMA for suggestions and what he could do to get the patient some help. During this time to the present Hoss has spent many hours talking with the patient to keep their spirits up, speaking with family members too and even asking that the NAMA chapters send cards for the patient’s birthday while the patient was in jail awaiting trial.

At the first trial the court appointed attorney did not provide adequate representation for the patient. In fact the court appointed attorney refused to allow Kitts to testify when she discovered he was a methadone patient also and then accused him of being “high”.

From this point on Hossy Kitts went into full advocacy mode finding all the help he could get for the patient. He helped to get the ACLU involved because the patient did not receive adequate representation, arranged for expert testimony from Dr. Robert Newman, and also provided testimony himself as an advocate on behalf of the patient.

Because of Hoss’s support the patient was given “time served”. And while this may seem like a victory to some, it really wasn’t because the judge imposed the condition that the “former patient” can not take methadone for the next five years while under the supervision of the court. While the “former patient” is under the control of the court there is very little that can be done without concern about retribution. In spite of this Hoss has made extraordinary efforts to see that the patient got the best legal representation available while providing continued support to a “former patient” that right now, really needs it.

We at NAMA think that efforts by Hoss Kitts exemplify methadone advocacy and especially the NAMA chapters because of his resolute support to the patient. As a voice for the voiceless Charles Kitts has defended the need to increase methadone treatment in local newspapers.

Yvonne Bryson

Methadone Advocacy and Awareness Group – Harrisburg

Harrisburgh, PA

Extraordinary Advocate 2003

This award is given to recognize Yvonne Bryson’s extraordinary action that resulted in the patients at her program getting their medication when the program was closed by an East Coast blizzard.

In January 2003 the Eastern Coast was hit with one of the worst snow storms in decades. Rural areas were hit particularily hard but what made the storm perhaps worse was that it arrived two days late. After being predicted for hitting the area on Saturday, it actually arrived late Sunday. Many were unprepared including many methadone programs.

Hearing about the pending storm Yvonne Bryson went to her program to find out about any emergency plans. She asked them to give patients several days of medication but was told not to worry and “that they would make it to the program if their was a storm”. She was not able to make them understand that the concern was not only for staff being able to get to the program but that many patients would not be able to either. She left being promised by the program that they would do their best to get patients their medication.

At about 7 AM Monday she got the first call from a patient asking what they should do since no one was at the program. After making several calls to the program she tried to reach the program’s administration in another state. But, that was also closed too because the storm had affected the entire East Coast from Pennsylvania to Massachusetts. So Yvonne called Joyce Woods at home and after relaying the situation to Joyce the two discussed several options that could be used during such a crisis.

Yvonne began to put a plan in motion she first called the closest hospital but they would not help. She then contacted another hosptial in the area and managed to get to the hospital’s director about the situation. Here she was able to convince the hospital director to give any patient that arrived in their Emergency Room that days dose. And she was able to tell the director that in such an emergency situation this was legal for them to do. And Yvonne’s persuasive discussion helped the hospital make the decision to take every patient’s word about their dose. But this was not the end of it because the patients still did not know that they could go to the hospital. So Yvonne started a phone tree calling as many patients as she knew and telling them to call as many patients that they knew — and so on and so on! The result was that about 150 patients were medicated that day that otherwise would not have been.

And this is the best part – Yvonne did not think she had done anything extrodinary. In fact she called Joyce Woods twice that week to thank her. We at NAMA think that Yvonne Bryson is special and that what she did was very special, and so we are recognizing her extrodinary achievement in helping to get about half the patients on her program their medication that cold winter day.