In Macon, the preventable deaths of the unhoused, remembered

Friends of members of the homeless community in Macon, Ga., who died in the last year remembered them at a memorial this week. 

The ceremony was held at the Daybreak Resource Center, which provides food, medical care, laundry and other services to the unhoused.

Sister Theresa Sullivan leads the center. She said the annual service is about remembering the dead but also reassuring the living.

“One of the fears when you pass away and you've been on the streets sometimes is: 'Will anybody even notice?'” she said.  

Sullivan said some of those remembered this year died of natural causes — but not all. 

“A lot of them could have been prevented,” Sullivan said.  “Some are overdoses, some are alcohol. You know, it's never one thing. Usually it’s a combination of things.”

That the deaths could have been avoided is reflected in the ages of some of the deceased. 

“The average life expectancy for a woman on the streets is about 45 — and for a man on the streets is about 47,” Sullivan said. 

Caption

A votive candle for one of the members of the homeless community in Macon who died in the last year stands in a row.

Credit: Grant Blankenship / GPB News

Freddie Evans was one of a number of people killed after being hit by a car. Daybreak volunteer Benny Sanchez knew him.

“He was a quiet individual," Sanchez said. "Quiet, quiet fellow. He kept to himself. He was crossing the road somewhere and the car, and they hit him and left him in the street, and went off and just left him there.”

Sanchez wonders if Evans’ death could have been prevented if the woman who hit him had called for help instead of fleeing.

Sister Theresa Sullivan hopes more death can be prevented when Daybreak opens its block of medical recovery apartments  for people who, at least for now, are often discharged from the emergency room right back to the street.