Before she ended up in the hospital, “I felt like I was invincible,” said Jillian, 58, who suffered liver failure. “But I was not.”
Alcohol had derailed her life. She had trouble holding down a job and had strained ties with her family and friends. When she was discharged from the hospital to a program in skid row, it was not the life that any little girl dreams of, said Jillian, who asked to be identified only by her first name to protect the privacy of her family.
But she eventually “ended up in the right spot with the right people” — a clean and tranquil site dotted with palm trees that can feel a world away from skid row.
It is called the Oasis, a 40-bed site run by Wesley Health Centers and created through a joint effort of the city and county of Los Angeles.
“This is a good place,” Jillian said, “for women to get whole and heal.”
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