Loretta Lohe RIP
Loretta Lynn Lohe
February 2023
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Last Friday, February 24, 2023, Loretta Lohe was found deceased on a bus bench at the Empire Center in Burbank. She originates from Arizona; but I knew her, as a Burbank homeless resident, for over eight years.
Loretta was 59 years old.
A Lesson For Everyone
Homelessness complicates & accelerates pbysical & mental disorders
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Homeless Stats
The official 2022 LA County Homeless Count is 69,144 people
Females: 32% or 19,866 women
Substance Abuse LA County: 24% or 14,915 people
Females: 4,772 women
Homeless Alcoholics: 38% or 23,614 people
Females: 7,556 women
Mental Illness: 22% or 13,671 people
Females: 4,374 women
Expected Life Span:
Housed male: 74 years
Housed female: 80 years
Homeless male: 56 years
Homeless female: 52 years
Top 5 Causes of Death in LA County (2018-2020)
Housed:
- Cancer (all forms)
- Coronary Heart Disease
- Alzheimers
- Stroke
- Unintentional accidents (related injuries)
Homeless:
- Accidental drug overdoses
- Unintentional accidents (injuries from)
- Coronary Heart Disease
- Cancer (all forms)
- Stroke
The rates of disease are accelerated 3 to 6 times for a homeless person when compared to a housed individual.
Priorities of an Average Person
Housed:
- Health
- Family & relationships
- Self-Improvement
- Money
- Balance
Homeless:
- Food
- Clothing
- Shelter
- Money
- Job
Homeless + Substance Abuse
- Alcohol
- Drugs
- Tobacco
- Food
- Clothing
Addiction: brings you to the street, &/or keeps you on the street
Alcoholism & drug addiction don't care who you are
What is Alcoholism?
- The inability to control alcohol intake after starting to drink.
- Obsessing thoughts about alcohol.
- Behaving in ways, while drunk, that is uncharacteristic of their sober personality.
- Repeating unwanted drinking patterns.
- Surrounding themselves socially with heavy drinkers.
Acute Alcoholism
Alcohol poisoning resulting from the usually rapid, excessive consumption of excessive alcoholic beverages that is characterized by depression of central nervous system functioning leading to slurred speech, muscle incoordination, and drowsiness or loss of consciousness.
Chronic Alcoholism
Alcoholism is a chronic disease that gets worse over time. Like many chronic diseases, it can be diagnosed and treated but not cured, and it carries a risk of relapse.
As defined by A.A.
Alcoholics Anonymous describes alcoholism as a three-fold disease: a spiritual malady, and a physical allergy, brought on by a mental obsession.
What does A.A. say overall?
From the Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous ...
"The concept of the Mental Obsession is discussed all throughout the Big Book and is mostly represented in Chapter 3, “More About Alcoholism”. The mental obsession is described here: “The idea that somehow, someday he will control and enjoy his drinking is the great obsession of every abnormal drinker. The persistence of this illusion is astonishing. Many pursue it into the gates of insanity or death.” (Alcoholics Anonymous pg. 30). This is essentially saying that despite the obvious consequences and their inability to drink or use like other people, an alcoholic or addict will not be able to reason with themselves to stop using."
One theory about how addiction begins:
It has been hypothesized, that any addiction begins with the first event. On a scale, from 1 to 10, that first drink, that first high hits a 10 and your body experiences an, "Ahhhhhhhh" feeling. However, every subsequent drink or drug dose will never again hit the 10, therefore setting the user up for addiction, as they make countless attempts to achieve a 10 .... it's never going to happen again. Consequently, this chase might lead the drinker or drugger, to try a stronger substance, albeit, when a tolerance is achieved with the current status quo.
For the last section, you'll read my story and then what I think might have happened to Loretta. That said, I'm going to write the hard, cold truth about addiction. With all the lives lost, I refuse to sugarcoat what can happen; what happened to Loretta, what could've happened to me and my daughter.
My own experience:
I'm going to start with smoking, which I began when I was 12 years old. Why? Mad at my parents, so I did something that would be secret to hide from them; my revenge. My drinking career began the same way, but at age 15. I started by taking a Budweiser from my parent's refrigerator and proceeded to get drunk, for the first time in my bedroom. My parents never knew.
There are a few types of Alcoholism, the garden variety drunk who drinks everyday. Eventually, their body becomes so dependent on the chemical that this person will shake when levels start to decrease and thus they become a morning drinker. Probably this type started drinking for emotional reasons, but somewhere it changes into a physical need and they begin their daily drinking to get rid of the shakes.
Then there is a periodic drinker, the type that I was. And so, I rarely drank, but when I did all hell broke loose. What led me to take the first drink? When I felt like control over my life; over people, places, & things, was slipping away. Yep, these are people who, like myself, are control freaks. I need complete order and control, in my life, to reduce anxiety and panic. And although, I would go weeks, even months without drinking, the outcome of a binge episode were anything but pretty. Never was I that woman drinking with a grip around the crystal stem of a champagne flute.
I drank over my parent's divorce, my grades, being the sounding board for relationships while never being in one myself, and knowing that while drinking was my secret, I was disappointing important family figures. [Ironically, in the 1990s, I ran into a school mate who told me I had the prettiest blue eyes ever, I told him, if so, then why didn't you ever ask me out. He replied, because you were always drunk.]
I drank all through high school, taking the chance that I would total my mom or my grandpa's car. And more insanely, I put others' lives in grave danger driving out to the 805 to see football games every Friday. I could outdrink any guy, and I did and gained notoriety and the nickname, the fish.
I puked all the time; in cars, in homes, even in the high school halls of Burbank High. I stole money and alcohol from my parents and lied to everyone. Eventually, I dropped out in 10th grade and then again in 11th grade. On my 18th birthday, I began work, the graveyard shift, at Jack-in-the-Box in Glendale. I came equipped with a thin line of hash oil on my cigarettes.
I got my first pharmacy job at 18, still drinking too, but now I'm memorizing package inserts of pharmaceuticals which prevented me from dabbling in drugs. I did sell marijuana in biology class to pay for my alcohol, and then a good portion of my paychecks went to beer.
At 21 I married my first husband, who wasn't a partier and by my standards was just too boring. I didn't drink too much while married to him, but I did take a step up from beer to the hard cores, when we did go out to an event, burning my way through run, vodka, gin, finishing with tequila. I divorced him in 1980 and my drinking took off, right where it had left off. I puked more than I ever had, slept with countless men; not knowing where I had met them, where I was when I woke up, even misplacing my VW on several occasions.
On November 1, 1981, around midnight I totaled a brand new studio truck, given to me for the day to move out of my dad's house. The last thing my dad said to me, don't drink and drive. Okay dad, I told him. [As the disease of alcoholism progressed so did the chaos in my life]. The last thing I remember is leaving Monahan's, in Pasadena, around 10pm. My crash happened in Burbank. What happened to those 2 hours? I'll never know. The BPD pulled me out of the truck and I was arrested for driving under the influence. I was glad. I knew it was over for me and secretly I wanted help. My life was so bad, that my grandpa was bringing my grandma to Burbank from North Hollywood, to clean my house and do laundry. I never paid my bills, and instead of doing laundry, I would throw the dirty clothes away and charge new clothing.
I went to court; the arraigning Judge Kaufman [father to retired BPD Kaufman]. I lost my license, received a $500 fine, a mandated 6 AA meetings and 6 months of alcohol/drug traffic school. I walked away from my job and friends, starting out with the bare minimum to change my life.
My original sobriety date was January 25, 1982. Unfortunately or not I went to a hoity-toity 4th of July party at a Santa Monica penthouse and ate a hash-laced brownie. That changed my sobriety date to July 5,1982. So, I am almost 41 years sober, by the Grace of God. I've been married three times, have two kids and managed a successful pharmacy and teaching career. And thanks [all thanks and credit] to a prior BPD detective, I went back and got my diploma, an AA degree in Psychology, my BS in Psychology and Business Management, my Master's in Public Health, and got super close to my doctorate. Anything good in my life is credited to Detective G and/or God. I take no credit. I needed a nudge from the Detective, God, and the Judge; grateful to all three!!
I went to AA and read all the required books which like the 12 steps, I take seriously. Are you wondering if AA works, yea, it works very well indeed. Not once, not a single time, have I ever thought or craved a drink. I don't get it. I couldn't stop!!
In 1975 I went into a Burbank CVS and ran into a gal that I partied with in high school. Greeting her behind the pharmacy counter, I said, Hey, where's the parties at tonight? She meanly chuckled and said, parties? I work full-time, am engaged to be married, and am saving for a house!! I haven't partied since I left high school. [One of many wake-up calls I missed].
Loretta:
Loretta hailed originally from Arizona. I'm going to assume that she graduated high school, either beginning her drinking career then or afterwards. She worked, had her own apartment, then decided to come to California, where she had an apartment in Van Nuys.
Something happened, not sure what ... broken relationship, death in the family, loss of job, the drinking accelerated? But whatever happened Loretta wound up homeless. I met her first in 2014. She was very pretty, hair and nails done, lots of clothes, and sleep attire needed for sleeping rough.
Loretta's daily main goal was to buy beer. She would ask any and everyone for a dollar; for her alcohol, cigarettes, bus fare and food. As a homeless alcoholic, this is your list of priorities; in this order. I saw her drink and pass out in public on bus benches without a change of clothing, a jacket or even a blanket. I also watched her priorities and self-care dwindle over the last 8 years. And not once did I ever see her eat. It was either water, soda, or beer.
Probably, over the past year, I saw Loretta still asking for money. She never had appropriate weather related attire, nor sleeping supplies. She rarely had a change of clothing, she was also asking strangers for clothes as well. I don't know if she had any income or food stamps. I know she went to the ER for a shower, food, and shelter & a couple of months ago she took the Greyhound, from Glendale, to Las Vegas asking another bus patron for a pair of sweat pants.
She lost a lot of weight and it's rumored that she was using methamphetamine along with alcohol. Was she in touch with her Arizona family? Did she develop any close, local relationships here in the valley? I don't know to either question.
Upon research, that I did today, I found that not only is a homeless person vulnerable to respiratory problems and a tendency to weather-related hypothermia, but even more so when drinking and using methamphetamine. Both chemicals will warm your body leading you to believe you're not cold. coupled with the chemical induced hypothermia.
If we look at the weather, the day Loretta passed away, it was in the low 40s. She was probably under the influence. She might have fallen asleep or passed out last Friday, and that was it. Hypothermia, stroke, heart attack, drug overdose, alcohol poisoning. Anyone of these or all of them. I'm not sure and what I have written, here today, is hypothetical or speculative. I'm just using my experience and education to surmise.
What happened to Loretta is pretty common among the homeless who drink and use. She is one of thousands across the United States who end up homeless because of alcohol and drugs, or use them to cope with while being homeless. What happened to her, is a lonely and sad ending.
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What is "Every 15 Minutes"
The Every 15 Minutes program is a two-day program focusing on high school juniors and seniors, which challenges them to think about drinking, driving, personal safety, the responsibility of making mature decisions and the impact their decisions have on family, friends, their community, and many others.
Goals & Objectives
The program brings together a broad coalition of interested local agencies with the goal of reducing alcohol-related incidents among youth. The partnering of the California Highway Patrol, local law enforcement, local hospitals, emergency medical responders, schools, businesses, and service clubs validates the importance of working together to ensure a healthy community.
The two-day Every 15 Minutes program is very dramatic and emotional-and purposely so. Teenagers are constantly reminded about the choices they have to make involving alcohol and how many others are affected by their decisions.
They know the intellectual statistics. However, many teens share the belief it will never happen to them.
This powerful program is designed to create an awareness among students that they are not invincible. This program helps open the emotional doors, and it They experience first hand how their actions affect the lives of so many other people.
Funding
With funding available from the California Office of Traffic Safety, the California Highway Patrol provides mini-grants to schools and organizations wanting to implement the Every 15 Minutes program.
Applications are accepted each school year beginning October 1st. Applications are accepted on a first come, first served basis until all spots are filled. If you have questions about how to apply, please contact the Public Information Officer in your local CHP Area Office CHP Area office.
Contact Information
Experienced CHP personnel are available to work with you, your advisors, and students to provide technical assistance in planning and implementing a successful Every 15 Minutes program at your school.
For additional information regarding the Every 15 Minutes Program, or to apply for a grant for your school, please contact your local CHP Public Information Officer.
I believe BPD did this in 2015 & 2016.
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Books about addiction and those affected by it: Hazelden Bookstore
This is the AA circuit speaker, Chuck C.; he was the father of actor Richard Chamberlain. I was fortunate enough to hear him, just once, at the Burbank Friday night AA meeting. Something I not only cherish but hold close to my heart.
In memory of Loretta Lohe. I wrote about your experience and mine in hopes that together, our stories can help others to find sobriety and bypass the roads that you & I traveled. RIP Loretta.
And to Detective G for sending my back to school for my diploma, you are the kindest man ever I met. There isn't a day that goes by that I don't think about you and the educational nudge you gave. You were the best BPD had Sir. RIP
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