The Word on the Street

By BEN AAKER, Senior Technical Journalism Major

FORT COLLINS, Colo.—Sally Baker pulls her left sleeve up to her elbow to reveal the scars of her self-inflicted wounds.

“You eventually get tired of the struggle, the constant pain,” says Baker who claims to have attempted suicide twice in the past month.

Baker, 46, is homeless. She has lived in Fort Collins for 10 years, but has been homeless for the past two years. She became homeless when a neck injury rendered her disabled and incapable of working.

Baker receives $230 a month for low-income medical care but maintains that it’s not enough to cover her food and medical needs.

“I don’t need a lot of money. From living on the streets I’ve learned how to deal without certain things like food,” Baker said.

Baker claims to have gone up to four days without eating a single meal.

“I only eat when my body tells me I need it,” Baker said.

Baker is also an alcoholic and claims she drinks daily to alleviate her chronic neck pain.

“I use (alcohol) for pain medicine because I can’t afford my real medicine,” Baker said. “It makes me numb.”

According to Baker, she’s not the only homeless person who is an alcoholic.

“I’m telling you that everybody in that park over there is an alcoholic,” said Baker, referring to a large group of homeless people in Hobo Park. “I haven’t met a homeless person that wasn’t.”

As winter rapidly approaches, Baker fears how the cold conditions will affect her and the community. She fears that the alcohol-free policies of many of the shelters will force several alcoholics to grind their way through the winter on the streets.

“There’s gonna be people sleeping out in the cold. The alcohol is a problem with them getting into the shelters, but it shouldn’t be. They need to let them in because it’s cold outside,” said Baker.

Sadly, just two days after Sally Baker sat down and spoke with us about her struggles as a homeless person and an alcoholic, she was taken to the hospital due to alcohol-related seizures. Still, she remains in the ICU and her condition is unstable.