British Columbian reveals a true story of ethics

by Ronald B Mickelson

Today I am 52 years old, and over three decades ago I was infected with the hepatitis C Virus. In April of 2006, my virus stopped being dormant and became active. My doctor recommended a treatment of Pegylated Inferron and Ribavirin for 48 weeks. It is a difficult and exhausting treatment for anyone to undergo.

A few of the adverse effect to try to manage are:

Influenza-like symptoms, impaired concentration, insomnia and irritability .The treatment may cause patients to develop mood or behavioural problems and aggressive behaviour, hurting or killing themselves or other people. You can develop autoimmune diseases and in rare cases, causes death .I personal had four physical and emotional breakdowns and one suicide attempt.

When my treatment began I was living in Abbotsford, B.C , at the Salvation Army Centre of Hope. I was one of the first residents, in their Semi- Independent living quarters. I volunteered and was employed downstairs in their homeless shelter. This would lead me to being asked to join the Salvation Army outreach team. In their opening ceremonies, I was asked to give my personal testimony.

A few months later side effects from the medication that I took, began to emerge , while I was still a resident of the Centre of Hope, in a place I was told that” I would be safe.”

My counsellor, who was the Client Services Director at the Centre of Hope, warned me,” that with this kind of medication, your personality will begin to change, and you will not notice it, but everyone else will.

“After an argument and a fight with a fellow resident, who had a history of addiction relapse and mental illness, I was put out on the street without any investigation of how this could happen. This fellow resident had recently been made a Supervisor although it was widely believed that the Salvation Army was negligent in doing so.

He was also a friend, who I was asked to watch over.

I had no place to go and was refused emergency shelter, from the place I had worked.

That decision endangered my health and well-being.

A few days later, my old Supervisor from the emergency shelter, was refused access to my room to gather personal belongings and the daily medication that I needed for my chronic illness of the liver, despite having the medical information from my doctor about my illness.

Months had went by, with also close to 200 e-mails, letters and faxes were exchanged between myself and the Abbotsford ‘s Salvation Army .

The Officer/pastor of the Cascade Community Church met with me at the back of a coffee shop. We talked, and he told me “that the Salvation Army dropped the ball with you. He said he would: “Come to my home, a hour later and he will hand me $40.00 to help cover my cost incurred for their mistake and we would come in for a visit .“

We planned to meet a week later to come to a final resolution .Once again, months went by, every week, there was a new reason why we couldn’t meet. In my condition, this tormented me. I fell deeper into depression, become more ill, and would try to end my life.

The Divisional Command of British Columbia e-mailed me that he would come to Abbotsford for a meeting with me.

He promised me a public apology, at the Cascade Church, in front of their congregation

This did not happen tough. I was also not financially reimbursed for the stolen property from my locked room at the Centre of Hope.

Of course, after a year and a half, there will be a few twists and turns in this story from both sides, laughs and tears. I have been told that the Salvation Army likes to deal with their in-house problems privately. However, I tried and failed.

It would have been easier on me to tell my story long before the twists and turns .I couldn’t! I am a success story of the Salvation Army and I have a huge amount of gratitude towards them .They helped me remould my life and gave me a new start.

I will always love them for that .I will always care for them for that, I have been blessed by knowing them. I, however do know I have a right to my principles and my human rights. I believe I have earned the right to expect that the Salvation Army needs to right these cited wrongs.

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