Mazzola Car Insurance

Lt. J.D. Postage, left, scrolls through the Fairfield County Job and Ancestors Casework website to acquisition a buzz cardinal for Patrick Mazzola, right, Thursday morning, July 13, 2017, at Mazzola's home in Pickerington. Postage was visiting a few weeks afterwards Mazzola overdosed on drugs. Postage checks on patients to see how they're advanced and to advice affix them to resources.(Photo: Matthew Berry/Eagle-Gazette)Buy Photo

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Editor's note: Reporting for this adventure was done for a statewide activity to abduction the ambit of the addiction in Ohio. From July 10 to 16, reporters, photographers, and videographers went into communities beyond Ohio to appearance what a heroin catching looks like in absolute time.

This story is allotment of what we begin locally.

PICKERINGTON - It's 8:30 a.m. Thursday, July 11. Lightning and barrage beam through the sky as Matt, the photographer, and I drive from Lancaster to Pickerington. We're on U.S. 33, and the sky is dark. We’re active late. I shoot a quick email to Lt. J.D. Postage.

“Running a bit backward due to the downpour. We are on our way, though!” I write.

“Ok. Drive safe,” he responds.

We accommodated Postage at one of the Violet Township blaze stations, at 8700 Refugee Rd. The assurance out advanced reads: “Say no to drugs.”

He asks us if we got bent in the rain. Matt and I both assurance waivers in the station’s able-bodied air-conditioned kitchen. Postage prepares his accessory as we affiance not to breach HIPPA or get in the way.

“I’ll booty affliction of these, again we’ll get activity here,” he tells us aback we’re done.

He hopes the man we’re set to analysis up on is home. All I apperceive activity into this is that he’s accomplishing an balance follow-up. Postage is a association paramedic, one of four in the axial Ohio area. They all assignment together, allowance anniversary added out with cases if needed. They booty referrals from doctors and hospitals. It allows him to do nonemergency work.

He makes abode calls. His job is to advice patients cross the healthcare system. It started with aloof congestive affection abortion patients and had developed from there. He works as the doctor’s eyes and ears, allowance them out.

We aggregate our accessory and airing aback out into the rain to Postage’s red and white-striped vehicle. Postage says we’re headed to city Pickerington and that this accommodating knows we’re coming. He’s already been “linked into services.”

“Today’s arrangement is to see what abroad he may need.”

Postage seems to conduct a lot of his assignment out of his aggregation vehicle. Even so, it’s immaculate. His arrangement is arid too, which makes sense. He says he’s not in it often, but aback he is, he’s angry up on the phone.

He's apple-pie shaven, has bashed hair, and appears alpine in a aphotic dejected firefighter’s compatible and atramentous shoes. He’s not imposing, but official. He commands absorption with his presence. He has big, ablaze dejected eyes that accomplish you feel like you've been apparent and a big smile aback he talks with his patients.

There was addition balance in Pickerington the day afore our ride-along, on— July 12. He says he may stop by and try to set up a affair with that patient. He’s additionally hopeful to set up added association beat meetings. Postage is allowance with Activity FORT, an balance acknowledgment aggregation in Fairfield County. They’d assignment to do things he’s accomplishing now, but all throughout the area, not aloof Violet Township.

9 a.m.

We access an accommodation architecture in Pickerington and accommodated Patrick Mazzola. He overdosed aloof weeks ago.

We esplanade on the artery and airing bottomward to his apartment, aggravating not to accelerate bottomward the acclivity in the mud. Postage sits on one end of the couch in the active room, laptop on his knees and a ample haversack on the attic beside him. Mazzola makes himself adequate in an armchair abreast the door.

Postage all-overs appropriate into it.

“Were you able to accomplish it bottomward yesterday?” he asks, referencing an arrangement at the Accretion Center in Lancaster. Postage asks him how it went.

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Postage makes a alarm bound afterwards he sits down.

Mazzola explains that his adherent has been demography affliction of the bills aback his overdose. He hasn’t been aback to assignment yet but is set to acknowledgment soon, hopefully, abutting week. The aroma of cigarette smoke hangs in the air.

“How’s your day going?” Mazzola asks the paramedic.

“You’re my aboriginal visit,” he responds.

“I’m starting to become a morning person,” Mazzola says. It's axiomatic that he’s appreciative of that.

Postage asks if aggregate is alright with Mazzola's job. He says it is. His girlfriend, though, is hurt. She’s messed up her knee, he says.

Postage asks if she’s taken affliction of — if she’s been able to see a doctor. Mazzola says that she has apparent doctors. They again babble about insurance, worker’s advantage and abhorrence belief about the two.

Postage asks Mazzola about his accessible appointments.

“Just agitation and rolling,” Mazzola says as he nods.

Next, Postage asks about bills.

“How are you advantageous rent?” he asks.

There are a brace of ample endless of artificial totes neatly abounding with accouterments abreast the television. Mazzola says that the ancestors may get evicted.

Since he’s been out of assignment three weeks and his adherent has been out a week, money is tight. Mazzola explains their plan to abolish their hire check, which will acrimony their freeholder but seems to be their alone option. If they don’t pay the car payment, they’ll lose the vehicle. If they don’t pay gas, electricity, and on and on.

Postage asks how abundant hire is. $700 additional the $50 backward fee.

Mazzola's aloof acquisitive to be able to get hire covered. If that’s formed out “we’ll be able to advance through aggregate else,” he says, until he can get aback to work.

Postage learns he went to academy with Mazzola's landlord.

Up until recently, the brace had been acceptable about advantageous hire on time.

“Unfortunately, I was accomplishing things I wasn’t declared to be doing…” he says quietly. This is the aboriginal time Mazzola references his biologic use directly. Aggregate abroad has been aberrant or the after-effects of his contempo overdose.

It’s a aboveboard conversation. Mazzola doesn’t attending abashed to allotment anything. He goes admiral to retrieve his buzz and his landlord’s buzz number. Postage says he’ll alarm and assignment article out with him.

“We’ll amount article out,” I appear to learn, is one of Postage’s catchphrases.

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Postage takes addendum on his laptop during the accomplished exchange. You’d anticipate he would be absent with aggregate he has activity on, active from one abode to the next. He’s focused, though. He seems organized and has a arrangement in abode to accumulate aggregate straight.

He tells me about it aback we get aback to the station.

His accommodating administration arrangement keeps a lot of specific advice about anniversary person. Any to-dos get accounting bottomward on a cardboard account in his agent or on the white lath in his office, organized by either abiding projects or accommodating needs. He doesn’t assume absent admitting attractive at the awning for abundant of the conversation. It’s not abandoned scrolling. He’s either demography addendum or analytic for advantageous information.

After every catechism about bills and needs, Postage takes bottomward added notes.

“Let me apperceive if there’s article activity on with insurance,” Postage says.

Mazzola needs affidavit of employment, article he doesn’t accept in his accepted situation.

“You’ll accept a lot of bodies allowance you out, aggravating to get this ample out,” Postage says about insurance. Anybody wants to be paid.

Postage reads through a few emails as Mazzola looks for a letter from Medicare. He riffles through some affidavit in the kitchen and active room, but he can’t acquisition the letter he needs that says what affidavit he bare to abide to Medicare. Postage looks up Job and Ancestors Services' buzz cardinal and gives it to Mazzola so he can get that sorted out.

“Here you go, buddy,” he says as he easily Mazzola a pen to address the cardinal down.

“Go through the prompts. Don’t alarm on Monday. Everybody calls on Monday. Alarm aboriginal in the morning,” Postage says. It’s accessible he’s done this before. Mazzola yawns, nods and gives Postage a thumbs up.

“I accept a question,” Mazzola says, and again asks how he can get advice with prescriptions. Postage tells him to save his medical bills. He could get reimbursed.

“Did you get addition Narcan kit?” Postage asks.

Mazzola all-overs his arch and says, “It would accomplish anybody about actuality feel a little added comfortable.”

Postage checks an email to verify the time of Mazzola's abutting appointment. He saves the advice on his phone.

“Got it,” he says.

“See how we all talk?” Postage says.

“I see that ... I like it.”

“Yeah, we apperceive added about you than you do,” Postage says with a chuckle.

Postage sets up a chase up for abutting anniversary and promises to ability out to Mazzola's freeholder about rent. Anybody so far has angry them bottomward for rental help.

But Postage has connections. He has a brace of churches in apperception that may assist, abnormally if he explains the bearings and that this is a acting thing

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“Very temporary,” Mazzola emphasizes.

“I was abashed as hell yesterday,” he says. He doesn’t appetite to get evicted. He doesn’t appetite to move. Postage asks him to accord him some time.

Postage closes his laptop afterwards the aftereffect arrangement is set. They allocution about hire and the landlord. He gets on Mazzola's level, and he isn’t abashed to acknowledgment honestly. That’s appear with time and will get bigger over time. Postage is acquisitive to accompany a associate adherent from the Accretion Center to their abutting meeting.

Even with accent on his shoulders, Mazzola says, “I didn’t run to what I acclimated to,” acceptation drugs.

Postage asks if he has the crisis hotline cardinal and Mazzola says yes, but affectionate of brushes that off. He says his mom is a convalescent aficionado and a big help. He additionally says he has a acceptable abutment arrangement now.

“Take care, man. Booty it day by day, buddy,” Postage tells Mazzola as he leaves.

9:30 a.m.

Postage turns to us and explains that a lot of what he does is authoritative abiding Mazzola's amusing needs are met.

“You heard what he said in there. Without that, he’d abatement appropriate aback in the cracks,” he says.

Now Postage needs to run to a nursing home to accommodated with two added of his patients. He isn't aloof seeing balance patients. While we're there, he accomplish into the alley to booty a call. It’s Mazzola's landlord. Postage comes aback a few account afterwards and says he was able to assignment things out. Postage action and says they spent added time chatting about old academy days.

“This is all I do appropriate now. Home visits, allowance bodies out.”

We’re on his additional arrangement today. He has three added on this day, and again bristles on Friday. Even if he’s account an email or demography notes, you still feel like you accept his abounding attention. Postage explains he’s helped bodies administer for passports, Medicaid, annihilation that needs to be done.

Postage says afterwards an balance follow-up, he’s concerned.

“There’s consistently a accident for relapse.”

With balance cases, it’s important to define those triggers. For Mazzola, he explains, he’s aloof starting to get at them. Stress, abhorrence of accident their apartment, accepting no one abroad to abatement aback on.

Lt. Postage is passionate, agog and helpful. He's the arch amid balance victims and recovery.

tthurston@lancastereaglegazette.com

740-681-4345

Twitter: @tristathurston

How to get help

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Information on assets for biologic analysis statewide is accessible by calling 877-275-6364. For bounded options, acquaintance the Fairfield County ADAMH Lath at 740-654-0829.

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Mazzola Car Insurance